F1 star says one thing stopped Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes misery getting worse

06 November 2023 , 18:10

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Lewis Hamilton endured a wretched Brazilian Grand Prix weekend (Image: Getty Images)

Yuki Tsunoda was adamant there was a "high chance" he would have passed Lewis Hamilton had he not suffered a clutch problem during the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Japanese racer finished ninth despite having started well down the grid. It was another excellent result for AlphaTauri who spent most of the season propping up the standings but are now up to eighth and hunting for more.

But Tsunoda was not entirely satisfied with his day's work. He had to manage technical issues on board his car during the latter stages of the race which later turned out to be a problem with his clutch that was affecting gear changes.

And he was confident that he would have been able to get past Hamilton, who finished one place ahead, had he not had that issue to contend with. "I don't know about Pierre [Gasly, who finished seventh], but Lewis, quite a high chance," he said.

The 23-year-old added: "Definitely, I could have done more. Sorry for the team. In the end I [wasn't] able to push to the maximum for several reasons. P15 to P9 is still good. Well done to the team."

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Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was not able to add to AlphaTauri's points tally. He suffered damage in the first-corner melee after a tyre flew off another car and smashed into his rear wing, which the team was able to fix during a red flag delay to get him back out on track.

But race control told him and fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri, who had also suffered damage, that they were a lap down and so their chances of points were already over. And Ricciardo was not at all happy about it as he spoke to reporters afterwards.

"It exposed a flaw or something in the rules because I didn't feel like we did a racing lap and then we started the race a lap down," said the 34-year-old. " So Oscar and I fell victim to that.

"Okay, it was the two of us today, but if 15 cars had damage and had to do what we did, are they going to start the race with 15 cars a lap down? I don't think so. I think they need to be a bit more open-minded. That was frustrating... really frustrating."

Otherwise, he felt he too would have been on course to score again for the team. Ricciardo added: "We were exceptionally fast today," he added. "We couldn't always show it because we were a lap down and just having to play the team game, of course, and not get in the way of Yuki's race or even other cars around us. But the times we did have some clear air, especially towards the end there were a couple of laps where I was able to show them my speed. Frustratingly fast."

Daniel Moxon