Yuki Tsunoda explains ‘stressful’ qualifying sacrifice for Max Verstappen

Yuki Tsunoda says helping Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen secure a vital pole position at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was “very stressful”.

Verstappen beat his McLaren title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to a commanding pole in qualifying at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to keep alive his title hopes.

The Dutchman’s bid to claim pole position was aided by Tsunoda, who was instructed by Red Bull to give Verstappen a slipstream on the back straight during his first Q3 lap.

Verstappen produced a time good enough for pole, which he bettered on his final run without the use of a tow from Tsunoda, who only just made it into the final part of qualifying.

“After that Antonelli collision, I had to revert back to the old floor, which, to be honest, cost my team a lot of performance into qualifying,” Tsunoda explained.

“So, I kind of expected it would be a difficult qualifying to get through Q3.

“Obviously, going through Q3 and helping Max was the baseline plan.

“I had more pressure moments, pressure or stress when I helped him in the tow, because I couldn’t be very close to turn 5, couldn’t be very far.

“So yeah, it was very stressful, to be honest. But at least I nailed it, and they gave me some compliments. So yeah, I take it.”

Tsunoda’s efforts were praised by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko.

“Yuki was incredible – the slipstream worked perfectly,” he told ServusTV. “So things are already looking better again.”

Tsunoda will ‘do as much as I can’ to help Verstappen

Verstappen is 12 points behind Norris and needs to win Sunday’s race with the McLaren driver fourth or lower in order to win a fifth consecutive drivers’ world title.

A podium finish will see Norris crowned champion regardless of where his rivals end up.

Asked if he could still play a role to help Verstappen’s championship bid against the McLaren pair, Tsunoda replied: “I don’t know, you never know.

“But, yeah, I’ll do as much as I can to help him. Most likely it would probably compromise my strategy, but with his position, how he ended up, there’s still a chance to get a championship

“So, I’ll do as much as I can. Yeah, let’s see.”

Red Bull have confirmed that Isack Hadjar will replace Tsunoda as Verstappen's teammate next season.