Helmut Marko explains reason behind 'Yuki Tsunoda snub' before Red Bull debut

Helmut Marko has explained the reason why he did not contact Yuki Tsunoda immediately after the Japanese racer was promoted to Red Bull. 

In the aftermath of the Chinese GP, Red Bull decided to swap Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, demoting the latter whilst giving Tsunoda a long-awaited chance in the senior team. 

However, on Thursday in Japan, Tsunoda claimed that he had yet to hear from Red Bull's motorsport advisor Marko despite it being nearly a week since the announcement of the swap. 

Marko has now given his side of the story - including how Tsunoda's three telephone numbers got involved.

"I spoke to Yuki, he has three telephone numbers," Marko told ORF. 

"It turned out that two of them no longer work, but it wasn't intentional.

"Then he arrived in Japan and there was the time-zone difference, it just didn't work. 

"Yuki was two-tenths behind Max [in FP3], we haven't had that for a long time, and he is clearly justified."

"Lawson has also recovered and is halfway there."

Tsunoda qualified 15th fastest for the Suzuka race, with Lawson in 14th and Isack Hadjar in seventh as Max Verstappen grabbed a remarkable pole position for the senior team.