Destroying his RB21 in a massive Q1 accident, Helmut Marko says Yuki Tsunoda’s crash is a “huge setback” for spare parts as Imola is just one race in F1’s latest triple-header.

Tsunoda suffered a nasty crash in the opening qualifying segment for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix when he lost control of his Red Bull heading into Turn 6.

Tsunoda’s crash has put Red Bull in a ‘really critical’ situation

The Japanese driver went spinning into the gravel before rear-ending the tyre wall with the force of the impact catapulting him onto the barrier, where he barrel rolled before his car landed heavily back on its wheels in the gravel trap.

The Japanese driver was able to walk away from the crash, though his mechanics faced a late night making the repairs necessary.

“I was just very ashamed, disappointed,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com. “It was really stupid for myself, pushing like that, unnecessarily hard.”

Tsunoda was very apologetic to his mechanics given the work that lay ahead of them.

“The only thing I can do is apologise to them and just pray,” he said. “The car obviously had a big damage, so the mechanics have to do a lot of work until tomorrow; hopefully the car will be ready.

“Very unnecessary for them, and for myself putting them in the wrong situation.”

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But while Marko acknowledges the most important thing is that Tsunoda wasn’t hurt in the crash, the Red Bull motorsport advisor says it was a big blow given Red Bull’s spare parts situation.

Tsunoda was running the upgraded RB21 at Imola, the Japanese driver using the same spec floor that Max Verstappen first ran in Miami, which marks race one of F1’s latest triple-header.

Marko says Red Bull’s spares situation is now “critical” after the extensive damage to Tsunoda’s car.

“Thank God nothing happened to him personally,” Marko told Sky Deutschland.

“It’s a huge setback for us, because it’s now three races in a row. Monte Carlo in particular is not exactly forgivable if you have a slip-up there. And the spare parts situation has become really critical as a result.”

But he wasn’t about to lambast Tsunoda, saying: “You have to give him security and support. And we will do that.”

Tsunoda told the media he was grateful for Red Bull’s support, refuting suggestions that pressure led to his Imola crash.

“I think the team is supporting me enough to take off pressure as much as possible,” he said. “I just tried to be a hero in Q1, which is unnecessary. Aiming too much, aiming myself to pass Q1 in just one set.”

Tsunoda is likely to start the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from the pit lane while his team-mate Verstappen lines up P2 on the grid alongside Oscar Piastri.

The championship leader beat the reigning World Champion by 0.034s, but Marko hopes fourth time will be a charm with Verstappen unable to win the last three times he lined up alongside a McLaren on the front row.

“I don’t think tyre wear will be such an issue. You just have to see if you can maybe win something at the start or otherwise through strategy, because overtaking on the track is very difficult,” Marko explained.

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