Yuki Tsunoda makes key concession as 'unexpected' gap persists

Yuki Tsunoda has admitted he is "struggling" a day into the Spanish Grand Prix, revealing he does not know why he is "slow" at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Red Bull driver finished the first free practice session ninth fastest, before slipping down to P13 in the second hour of running.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen put together an unusually strong Friday on his side of the Milton Keynes squad's garage, going second and third quickest in FP1 and FP2, respectively.

Tsunoda, on the other hand, was at a loss to explain his underwhelming afternoon in Spain.

"Tricky," the Japanese driver replied when asked to talk through the day from his perspective.

"To be honest, in terms of the first day compared to other grands prix, I felt pretty smooth myself. I think I made progress from FP1 to FP2. I just don’t have any idea why I am slow.

"The lap was pretty good as well. Obviously, it’s not like fully 100% but it’s not a gap that I was expecting, at least.

"So it’s hard to even tell what kind of exact limitation I have. In terms of balance, it's okay. We'll have to see what we can improve, but I'm pretty struggling."

'It's not like a had a massive mistake...'

Having scored just 10 points in the six rounds since his promotion from Racing Bulls, Tsunoda has not made the impression he and the team would have hoped for - a trend that has continued early in this weekend.

"Hopefully we can find something otherwise it’s really tough," the 25-year-old added..

"It’s not like I had a massive mistake and I’m behind compared to competitors quite a lot. If I have a mistake with that result, I’m happy actually, but it’s not like that.

"So probably will be a longer night than usual. Obviously, there’s a curfew and everything and I'll try my best to find the solution. But currently, it’s not really clear."