Christian Horner: Tsunoda feels a bit like Eddie Irvine used to

(Motorsport-Total.com) - If things aren't going well, things aren't going well – Yuki Tsunoda can tell you all about that at Silverstone. The Japanese driver is still searching for a good result and at least made it to Q2 in qualifying in Great Britain. However, he ended up in twelfth place, lacking the power at the crucial moment.

"The lap was very clean. But I lost power, to be honest," laments the Red Bull driver. "From the start of the lap until the final corner, I didn't have the power I normally get. I lost a tenth in Turn 3, and then it was a clean lap until the finish straight."

"A few acceleration boosts just didn't work on the last lap. Other than that, the lap was pretty good—and with the field so tight, I would have most likely made it to Q3. It's really annoying," says Tsunoda.

However, team boss Christian Horner only says on F1 TV that the Japanese driver "ran out of e-boost, i.e., electrical power, at the end of the lap," which sounds more like he simply used up the power too early.

Tsunoda praises progress

Which version is correct is difficult to judge from the outside, but Horner says it cost him a tenth of a second. "And with such a tight field, that was probably the difference between Q3 and not Q3," he says.

But: Tsunoda was just 0.115 seconds short of making it into the final section.

Nevertheless, the Japanese driver is quite satisfied with the progress he made at Silverstone: "I think this was the cleanest race weekend so far. I built confidence, everything went well. The car felt really good in qualifying," he praised.

"But every time something happens in the final push. Okay, it wasn't the final push, but this time it was the decisive one. When it really matters, it's especially frustrating," said the Red Bull driver. "But like I said, without the problem, I would definitely have made it to Q3."

Horner: Tsunoda feels like Irvine

Team boss Horner also praised Tsunoda for driving "pretty well" at Silverstone so far. "We're trying a completely different approach with him to better support him – perhaps with a slightly different setup than Max's," said the Briton, who was reminded of another Formula 1 driver in the situation.

"I was just talking to Eddie Irvine, and it was very reminiscent of what he experienced with Michael Schumacher at Ferrari in the 1990s," Horner said. "Such exceptional drivers can drive a car that's extremely tuned for a super-strong front axle—and there are very few who can do that."

"That's why we're trying to take a different approach with Yuki to calm things down a bit for him."

Tsunoda: At least not P18

That was enough on Saturday to avoid another Q1 failure. "So at least I'm not starting from P18 – that's closer to the big points, so that helps," Tsunoda nods.

"I'm looking forward to the race. It's been a while since I scored points, to be honest. I can hardly remember the last time. I need to score points and make the team happy."

By the way, Tsunoda's last points came in Imola - well, at least there was a single one back then.