Marko lashes out at 'unstable' Tsunoda for qualifying crash

Red Bull adviser Dr Helmut Marko has hit out at Yuki Tsunoda over his qualifying crash at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Japanese driver, who will line up P11 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, put his RB in the wall during his final run of Q2, bringing out the red flag.

In doing so, he prevented himself, and Liam Lawson, the opportunity to make it through to the last part of qualifying. His team-mate will start alongside him.

After the incident Marko was furious with the 24-year-old, calling him "unstable" and questioning his ability to handle the pressure applied by Lawson, who has recently been handed his seat for the remainder of the season in place of Daniel Ricciardo.

Both Tsunoda and the New Zealander are thought to be in contention for Sergio Perez's drive at the main Red Bull team, but mistakes like the one in Mexico have done little to improve his standing in the team, particularly with Marko.

"He is still too unstable," the Austrian told Sky Sports Germany. "Yuki also had a spin in Austin and now this crash in qualifying.

"We thought he was stabilised, but apparently he's not. Now, when the pressure comes off Lawson, it's even more noticeable."

The 81-year-old was also concerned that the stricken RB may require a new floor, something that would likely consign Tsunoda to the back of the grid in Mexico.

That would be a considerable disadvantage to the Faenza-based team, which is locked into a fierce battle with Haas for sixth-place in the F1 constructors' championship.

With five rounds to go, RB is on 36 points, two behind the American squad. As Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg qualified in seventh and P10, respectively, Tsunoda can seldom afford to start at the rear of the field at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

"He has a new floor [on his RB], just like [Liam] Lawson, and I don't know if they have any spare parts," Said Marko.

"If you had to rebuild, it would be a relegation to the back row. So it was a totally unnecessary crash."