Yuki Tsunoda expresses stewards' frustration over controversial Lando Norris incident

Yuki Tsunoda has expressed his frustration at Formula 1 stewards following his controversial incident with World Champion Lando Norris in Abu Dhabi. 

In a bid to try and hold Norris up to aid team-mate Max Verstappen, Tsunoda weaved on the main straight, forcing Norris to take evasive action and pass the Japanese racer off-track.

Both were investigated for separate incidents, Tsunoda for forcing another driver off, whilst Norris was investigated for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.

In their decisions, Tsunoda received a five-second time penalty and one penalty point on his superlicence, whilst Norris was not sanctioned at all. 

Tsunoda ultimately finished what will be his final grand prix until at least 2027 in 12th place, as he explained his puzzlement at the penalty, even though other drivers appeared to do the same, including Fernando Alonso on Kimi Antonelli. 

"I have to review it back what happened. I have an idea of why they applied the penalty, but at the same time, I have to review it back to see if it deserves the five-second penalty or not," Tsunoda told media, including RacingNews365. 

"Because it cost my race massively. Everyone was doing it, so I don't know, I don't know what they were thinking about, as usual, it is very harsh."

Just prior to the move, Tsunoda received instructions from his Red Bull engineer, but issued a firm response to leave him to it, as he also explained this and whether he could have backed Norris up. 

"Consistently over the radio, I could tell the stress from them, but [it was] like: 'Look, I know what to do," he explained.

"We talked about it, and I tried my best to defend as much as possible from him, and there no benefit to let him go easily, so that was it, and I did, I tried my best, but he just came every quickly and overtook me.

"I thought about [backing Norris up into the final sector], but he was also quite far away, and managing massively into Turn 9, because the gap was still eight or nine tenths, and he was closing up at five-tenths a lap. 

"I thought I could hold on one more lap, but he did well, maximised the performance in Turns 1-2-3-4-5, and closed the gap in Turn 1, but there was not much difference, because if I slowed down, he probably would have passed me into Turn 1."