AlphaTauri could not find "no clear issue" in their Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix data to cause Yuki Tsunoda's retirement and triggering of the Virtual Safety Car. Tsunoda first ground to a halt exiting Turn 3 on Lap 44 of 72 at Zandvoort, claiming that the tyres were not fitted to the car. He got going again after the team deemed they were, coming into the pits for a tyre change and to re-do his seatbelts. He was then sent out on used Softs, but was immediately told to stop, doing so again on the Turn 3 exit - bringing out the Virtual Safety Car. This had a major impact on the race as it allowed leader Max Verstappen to take his needed second stop, and rejoin in the lead, until a later Safety Car incident. Post-race, Tsunoda was at a loss to explain what the issue was with his AlphaTauri machine.
AlphaTauri saw no obvious problem
Tsunoda explained that AlphaTauri didn't pick up any obvious problem on the data before Tsunoda initially stopped. It was only when he pulled away from the pits that they spotted the issue and decided to retire while out on track again. "I thought there was an issue, it was quite clear, especially in the rear," Tsunoda explained to media including RacingNews365.com. "That's why I got the call from my engineer to stop, but we didn't see any clear issue in the data - that's why we drove back again to fit a new [set] of tyres. "After that, we saw a clear [problem] in the data, that's why we stopped."
Car was crabbing along the straight
"When I accelerated out of the pit exit, I felt like just one wheel was having wheel-spin. "I was drifting along the straight, and counter-steering along it, so that's why I didn't think it was normal. "We fitted a new tyre, and I confirmed that the same thing was happening. "At first I thought the Hard tyre was wheel-spinning because of low grip, but the issue is something going on at the rear, and the engineers confirmed there was an issue, so we stopped. "I don't know what it was because I had no radio." However, the FIA later determined it was a differential failure, and handed Tsunoda a reprimand for driving with his seatbelts undone after he started to unbuckle them intending to jump out after he stopped for the first time.
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