Yuki Tsunoda has questioned RB's decision-making process after a "messy" sprint qualifying left him 17th on the grid.
In the sole Lusail practice session, Tsunoda had finished fifth only behind the Ferrari and McLaren drivers as they battle for the constructors' championship.
But in sprint qualifying, the Japanese racer was eliminated in 17th place after he felt the team waited too long to send him on-track in the shorter 12-minute segment, as team-mate Liam Lawson took 10th.
"It was very messy, I don't know why we exited so late, and then all I was doing was rushing throughout qualifying and didn't have any proper track position," Tsunoda bemoaned.
"To be honest, I've done what I've done, but I didn't feel able to really maximise our performance from the practice session.
When asked if there was still potential in the car to be extracted, Tsunoda indicated there was, but that he would not be able to use it in the sprint.
"I think so yeah, but it is too late now," he said when asked about the potential.
"One qualifying is done now and for sure we could have done better than that."
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