Karun Chandhok could not hide his disappointment after watching Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda crash amid the second free practice session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old got his third Red Bull outing after replacing Liam Lawson off to a mixed start on Friday. Tsunoda ended FP1 just 0.003 seconds off the pace Max Verstappen set to come ninth and 10th. But as well as that margin growing to 0.416s in FP2, Tsunoda found the wall.
Tsunoda brought out red flags with just under nine minutes left on the clock when he found the barrier at the final corner of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The Japanese driver initially hit the inside wall turning in for Turn 27, which broke his steering arm and sent him to the wall.
Crashing in FP2 at the Saudi Arabian GP also comes as a fast blow after Tsunoda scored his first points with Red Bull in Bahrain last Sunday. In his second Grand Prix driving in the RB21, Tsunoda came ninth in Sakhir after also qualifying in P10 after reaching Q3 for the first time.
Karun Chandhok quips Yuki Tsunoda ‘did a Lando Norris’ with Saudi Arabian GP FP2 crash
Red Bull now have to repair the entire front end of Tsunoda’s RB21 for Saturday’s running at the Saudi Arabian GP with FP3 and qualifying. It was a clumsy incident Chandhok feels came as the rotation of Tsunoda’s car surprised him given how the Kanagawa native had turned in.
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Chandhok also quipped that Tsunoda’s crash in FP2 for the Saudi Arabian GP was similar to the incident that Lando Norris of McLaren had at the same corner in qualifying for the 2023 edition. The 25-year-old also struck the inside wall first in Q1, which broke his steering arm.
However, unlike Tsunoda, Norris avoided the outside wall, but could not continue without a competitive lap time and qualified in P19. Former HRT driver Chandhok also could not hide the disappointment in his voice after seeing Tsunoda’s crash in FP2 as he sighed, ‘Oh Yuki’.
Chandhok told Sky Sports F1 (18/04, 18:53): “He touched the inside. He did a Lando Norris. Oh Yuki… It’s the one where you’re more annoyed. The car’s rotated, clearly, much more than he was expecting.
“He kind of did the steering in two stages. He turned in and then wound on the lock and almost didn’t expect the front to bite and rotate, and that took him into the inside wall.”
Yuki Tsunoda must keep his confidence up for qualifying after the Red Bull driver’s crash in practice in Jeddah
Tsunoda’s crash in FP2 at the 2025 Saudi Arabian GP curtailed race simulations this Friday in Jeddah. It will also knock his confidence if, as Chandhok suggests, Tsunoda crashed due to the Red Bull gem being surprised by the responsiveness of the steering of his RB21 in FP2.
The last corner of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a key turn for a strong lap, especially during qualifying. So, Tsunoda will hope to shake off the incident and find a groove again in FP3 this Saturday to be able to attack into Turn 27 in qualifying when he has to find the RB21’s pace.
Yet Tsunoda will only show if the Red Bull’s driver confidence to attack into and through Turn 27 is unaffected after his FP2 crash in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP. The conditions in FP3, much like in FP1 when Tsunoda was close to Verstappen’s pace, will not be reflective.
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