Yuki Tsunoda makes 'not impossible' claim after rescuing Imola weekend

Yuki Tsunoda believes a top-six finish was within his grasp at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, if it were not for his huge qualifying smash. 

After a positive FP2 on Friday, Tsunoda crashed heavily at the Villeneuve chicane on his first Q1 lap, flipping multiple times as the car was destroyed.

Starting from the pit-lane, Tsunoda ran long on the hard tyres and took the final restart after the safety car in 11th place. 

The Japanese racer was then able to climb into the points positions, finishing 0.804s in front of Fernando Alonso, as the Aston Martin's point-less start to the season continues. 

Reflecting on the race, Tsunoda felt his FP2 pace was positive, as he detailed the career-first feelings of flipping an F1 car.

"I don't know what was possible to be honest," Tsunoda reflected to media, including RacingNews365, when asked if a top six result was possible. 

'Until FP2, the pace was pretty good, I was pretty close with Max, but FP3 was pretty messy, so it is hard to say [where I could have finished]. 

"The pace was really good, so I think that was not impossible, and Max won. 

"The crash certainly didn't help with the learning, and in the crash, I recognised that I'm not understanding everything about the car. 

"I still remember every moment of it from turning, and it is a very unexpected movement, which is the first time I've experienced those things.

"Sometimes you just have to step back and gradually build the confidence again because it is easy to put too much pressure on, so I have to rethink myself, but I was happy to be able to build the confidence up in the race.

"My progress is continuing, but there is still a lot of room to improve."