Throughout his career Yuki Tsunoda he has often been betrayed by his nervousness, especially by some less than diplomatic comments made on the radio. Even in the qualifying of the Austrian Grand Prix, the Japanese driver from Racing Bulls has once again fallen into this type of error which has literally cost him dearly.
The incident occurred at the exit of the pit lane during Q1, at a moment when Guanyu Zhou entered the overtaking lane right in front of the #22. A maneuver that infuriated Daniel Ricciardo’s teammate, who opened the team radio and insulted the Chinese driver, calling him “these kids are f****** retards”.
A comment that did not go unnoticed by the Race Direction, who decided to intervene. After listening to the driver and team representatives, Tsunoda was fined for 40.000 euroof which 20,000 are suspended on condition that no further incidents of a similar nature occur. During the hearing, the pilot apologized for the incident, stating that he did not realize he had used such offensive language as English is not his native language.
“The Stewards appreciate the honesty of the driver – reads the FIA press release – but they stress that the words used are offensive and completely inappropriate. Using such words on a
platform available to the public was misconduct as defined in Article 20 of the International Sports Code. Given the circumstances, the Stewards determine that a severe fine is necessary, but also take into account the driver’s genuine remorse and his offer to issue a public apology and for these reasons
decide to suspend part of the fine imposed”.
