AlphaTauri punished after Tsunoda Sprint incident

AlphaTauri have been punished for releasing Yuki Tsunoda from the pits with his car in an unsafe condition during the Azerbaijan Formula 1 Sprint.

Yuki Tsunoda collided with the wall on the outside of Turn 13 on the opening lap of the race, sustaining damage to his AlphaTauri car.

After limping back to the pits and having a change of front wing and tyres, his AT04 car was sent back out onto the track.

However, it quickly became apparent that the car was in an unfit state to race, with the right-rear wheel of the car being badly misaligned.

Tsunoda returned to the pits one lap later and retired the car, but the Stewards ruled that his AlphaTauri car should not have been sent back out.

The team conceded that more could have been done to check the car and, as a result, have been handed a €5,000 fine.