“He’s a f***ing helmet.”
It took surprisingly little time for one of the most intriguing driver pairings on the grid to spectacularly blow up.
Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda have their careers on the line this season.
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Despite being 11 years apart and being at opposite ends of their careers, both have the same objective and are facing the same moment of judgement.
Both want a shot at Sergio Pérez’s Red Bull Racing seat at the end of the year, and they know the only way to get there is to comprehensively beat their teammate.
The impetus for total victory is heightened by the fact that Pérez is not guaranteed to be out the door at Milton Keynes by the end of the season. The Mexican performed to expectations in Bahrain, and a season finishing second to Verstappen would be enough to earn him a new contract — unless the alternative were somehow irresistible.
It’s impossible not to see this context in the background of the angry spat in the closing moments of the Bahrain Grand Prix — and the unedifying and borderline dangerous incident after the chequered flag.
Tsunoda had been angrily against letting the faster Ricciardo through late in the race, holding up his teammate for several crucial laps and hindering the Aussie’s chances of making up more places.
But the radio venting wasn’t enough. On the cool-down lap Tsunoda dive-bombed Ricciardo into turn 8 and then swooped close to his left-hand side on his way to the next corner, forcing the sister car to take evasive action to avoid a crash.
“What the f***!” Ricciardo radioed before composing himself. “I’ll save it. He’s a f***ing helmet.”
WHAT EXACTLY PROMPTED THIS INCIDENT?
Tsunoda had led Ricciardo throughout the race thanks to his better qualifying result, 11th to 14th. On pace they were closely matched, with margin hovering around seven seconds until the second pit stops.
It was there that their races diverged.
Tsunoda had started his race on a fresh set of soft tyres before switching to hards for his second and third stints.
Ricciardo started on a set of old, used softs so he could save his faster new set to the final stint. It cost him time at the start of the race but gave him a faster finish.
The strategy worked for the Aussie, and in less than 10 laps he was on Tsunoda’s gearbox.
The Japanese driver had been toiling behind Kevin Magnussen for those 10 laps but was struggling to find a way past.
The call came from pit wall to let Ricciardo through so he could use his faster tyres to try to crack Magnussen’s defence.
That’s when the arguing started.
Tsunoda declined to let Ricciardo through immediately, protesting that he was in the middle of a duel.
Ricciardo had spent seven laps in his dirty air by the time he relented, costing him the best of his tyres.
Worse, Verstappen had been bearing down and preparing to lap them. He did so as Tsunoda let Ricciardo past, breaking up the battle pack and gifting Magnussen a little bit of breathing space.
By now four laps remained — not enough time for Ricciardo to break through.
He finished 13th ahead of Tsunoda in 14th.
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TEAMS ORDERS NO COVER FOR TSUNODA
Of course no driver likes receiving a team order. As much as they’re out there racing for their team, self-interest is always their prime motivation.
Tsunoda was also particularly frustrated by the end of the race for a series of strategy calls that had put him on the back foot after running 10th during the first stint.
He was left out too long before his first stop, costing him places to Zhou and Lance Stroll.
The same happened at his second stop. Though he emerged from pit lane ahead of Magnussen, the Dane got through on the next lap with his warmer tyres.
Tsunoda was already having to accept the loss of a potential first-round point when Ricciardo, on what turned out to be a superior strategy, was ordered past.
But he should have seen it coming.
“He’s obviously frustrated with the team orders call, but let’s be real,” Ricciardo told F1’s post-race show. “This is something we talk about before the race.
“It was very likely I was going to use the soft at the end of the race, so he knew that there was a chance that I would have a pace advantage at the end, and if he gets a call, it’s going to happen.”
RB CEO Peter Bayer confirmed that Tsunoda not only had been aware of the plan before the race but also had been given a final chance to get past Magnussen before being told to let Ricciardo through.
“We gave Yuki a heads-up and said, ‘Look you need to overtake Magnussen and otherwise we need to swap’,” he told Autosport.
“He had two laps and didn’t make it, so we said, ‘Let’s swap’. We discussed it with him.
“It’s not easy probably, because they’re in the zone and they feel they can do it, but we see from the data that they won’t, so we have to make those decisions.”
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‘LET’S CALL IT IMMATURITY’
Ricciardo was incisive with his post-race commentary.
“A bit of immaturity? I’m being very sensible right now, but let’s call it immaturity,” he said.
“He’s also not giving me points. We’re fighting for 13th, so at least give us the best chance to get at least one car in the points.”
This more than anything else is damning of Tsunoda’s bizarre reaction to a common team order. In a race that had no points value to him but an outside chance of points to the team, his immediate reaction to throw his toys out of the pram will have been concerning to those watching on analysing whether he could take a step up to a frontrunning team in the coming seasons.
Contrary to his happy-go-lucky, jokey personality outside the car, Tsunoda is loudly emotional behind the wheel.
It’s not the legendary use of profanity that gives him away — English is second language, so his swearing shouldn’t be interpreted in the same way it would be for a driver from an English-speaking nation — but the outbursts that raise eyebrows.
The moments of red mist over team radio sometimes translate to his on-track performances. While his consistency greatly improved last year, he still tends to make snap errors born of overambition or momentary lapses in concentration.
These errors are exactly why Red Bull Racing has yet to take him as a serious frontrunning contender after three years in Formula 1.
The team already has extensive experience with teammates wilting under the pressure of racing alongside Max Verstappen. Tsunoda is yet to give evidence that he could withstand the heat.
These episodes are also extremely frustrating to observe from the outside. It’s clear Tsunoda is an extremely fast driver. His raw pace should make him capable of claiming poles and winning races in the right machinery and warrants a long stay in Formula 1.
PIT TALK PODCAST: Max Verstappen opens the season with a dominant win, temporarily halting speculation over Red Bull Racing’s off-track dramas. Meanwhile, at RB, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda come to blows after a battle outside the points.
The Bahrain Grand Prix had been a strong example of his capacity behind the wheel. He overcame a deficit to Ricciardo through practice to outqualify the Aussie by 0.149 seconds and three places. He got within 0.007 seconds of an unlikely top-10 berth.
The race wasn’t panning out for him — for reasons beyond his control — but he was still getting the most from his opportunity.
And yet he threw away what had been a solid weekend to a moment of rage.
He proved his mental approach still holds him back, and it took just one race in what could be the most important season of his career to demonstrate that he has work to do.
Having had time to process the situation after the race, Tsunoda admitted he could learn from Ricciardo’s approach to get the best from himself.
“Daniel has a thing that I don’t have,” he said, per Speedcafe. “For example, that self-control. He’s really good at it, and I think [it’s] also one of the things that teams value as well, rather than just shouting [on the radio].
“Giving feedback, he’s much better, because that kind of honesty and self-control is really important, and he’s really good at it.”
The season is long, and Tsunoda’s pace is obvious.
But he won’t have the upper hand all season, particularly with both Ricciardo and Bayer acknowledging they had found a happier set-up window at the second pit stop that could unlock more of the West Australian’s speed.
They key for Tsunoda will be to get the most from himself every weekend — to follow Ricciardo closely when he’s behind and to press home his advantage when he’s ahead.
He’s wasted a first chance. He can’t afford to waste another.