Yeah, it’s Tuesday and we’re still talking about that ridiculous F1 race this weekend. While everyone was paying attention to the horrible shitty race stewarding and an absolutely abysmal final five laps for both Lewis Hamilton and the sport in general, an F1 rookie was putting down a monster lap and securing his best finish ever. On the final lap Tsunoda managed to catch and pass a Mercedes to take fourth place, his highest position in F1.
Admittedly the safety car helped Yuki catch up to the back of Valtteri Bottas, and the steward’s weird decision about not letting all of the lapped traffic through meant Bottas himself was caught up behind a slower Aston Martin, but this was a legit ballsy move by the Alpha Tauri rookie, and he deserves credit for it. Forget Max, forget Lewis, forget giving Kimi an absolutely undeserved “Driver of the Day” award, everyone give Yuki a round of applause for a second. He deserves it.
It was an impressive lap, if you ask me. From the moment he crossed the line Yuki had to get around a slow Haas lapped car (again, a dumb steward is to blame). Then, as Bottas arrived to a slow corner to run down the inside of the Aston, Yuki took the same window of opportunity and slotted in right behind. Throw in a blocking Sainz ahead and Yuki with a good run behind, and Bottas was a sitting duck. Just a killer lap from a clearly talented young chap.
And it wasn’t just the race. Yuki managed to get up into Q3 in qualifying, nabbing a largely uncharacteristic 8th on the starting grid. That’s made all the more impressive by his teammate and Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly starting from 12th on the grid. Tsunoda finished 4th in the race while Gasly was right on his bumper in 5th, also managing to pass Bottas on the last lap.
I need something to take my mind off the mess that is the current championship and the fight at the front. I’m glad I chose to stan young Yuki this year, because he’s shown flashes of brilliance and will hopefully deliver some killer shit next season.