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Yuki Tsunoda

Stoddie Straight: Sorrow for Perez but Tsunoda threw away $20 million for nothing!

In his latest column, former Minardi team boss Paul Stoddart is disappointed in the performance of Yuki Tsunoda after he threw away an important result for his old team.

Tsunoda US
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To news overview © RN365/Michael Potts

We had an interesting weekend with the Mexican Grand Prix. I really feel sorry for Checo. It was the right move, he just didn't execute it very well. Had he left a little more space, he would have been in the lead coming out of Turn 1.

I'd like to skip straight to AlphaTauri and, Yuki Tsunoda. What a fool! It was so obvious that he and Oscar Piastri would clash at some point.

Those four points he threw away for eighth place are so incredibly important to the team. You're talking roughly about some $20 million difference in prize money between P8 and P10 in the Constructors' Championship.

Although they are now eighth, they are only a shared eighth with Alfa Romeo on 16 points. Had Tsunoda simply secured those points, which were really up for grabs, they would have 20 points and be comfortably clear of Alfa Romeo and Haas.

That's also the difference between Perez and Tsunoda. Tsunoda short-changed the entire team, whereas Perez only shortchanged himself.

The problem with Tsunoda

The problem with Tsunoda is his mentality. He can be very fast - he's picked up five points this year, but if I had been Franz Tost, I would have done something to him after that move.

It is so obvious that he only fights for his own success, not thinking at all about the team's interests. They could have taken ten points together with Daniel Ricciardo's seventh place, but four of them were thrown away by sheer stupidity.

And of course, I personally feel extra love for AlphaTauri, since it is my old Minardi team that was taken over by Red Bull.

When I finished tenth and last with Minardi in the Constructors' in 2005, I didn't think 18 years later that it would continue finishing 10th. That is why this result would have been so great and why I am so annoyed with Yuki.

He threw away four points that could just equal $20 million and all for nothing, other than impatience and not putting the team first. I'm really, really, really disappointed in him.

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