Yuki Tsunoda Fires Major Accusation at FIA After Bizarre Lapped-Car Anomaly at the Brazilian GP

After the Mexican Grand Prix DNF in the last week of October, the latest race in Brazil didn’t turn out to be a good one for Yuki Tsunoda. It was another underwhelming performance by the Japanese as his record of tough times continue in 2022. With the latest FIA involvement in Interlagos, Tsunoda was left hapless as he reveals after the race.

In the post-race conference, the Japanese driver opened up on his Brazil Grand Prix woe. The AlphaTauri driver conveyed, Normally you can pass through the safety car. But I got told to stay in the line. I mean… You know safety car was lighting up the green light, which means lapped car can go past the cars and the safety car. Somehow I couldn’t, so I got bit of bullied by the FIA.”

Tsunoda couldn’t join the pack of unlapping cars at the Interlagos as he pitted at the time two other cars unlapped themselves. While Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi of Williams unlapped themselves, the Japanese driver stayed behind for a lap, due to an error.

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The pinnacle of motorsport is still to forget what happened back in Abu Dhabi in 2021 and how the lapped cars were involved in the entire scenario.

FIA gave their take on Yuki Tsunoda’s situation

FIA, however, cleared themselves from Yuki Tsunoda’s allegations. The F1 governing body released a statement that said that a mechanical error caused such an unusual situation at the Interlagos. As per WTF1, FIA’s statement revealed, “All of the systems functioned correctly and according to the regulations.”

The statement further stated, “The unusual situation arose as a result of the idiosyncrasies of the specific circuit and scenario. However, at this time, he entered the pitlane and was able to go faster than the train of cars behind the Safety Car. In doing so, he unlapped himself when crossing the control line in the pitlane.”

“When he rejoined the circuit, the systems correctly indicated that he was again a lap down. However, as he had already unlapped himself once, he was not eligible to do so again when the Safety Car period was ending,” the statement read.

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In the end, Yuki Tsunoda finished the race at the very end of the pack in P17. As for his overall performance this year, the Japanese driver is in P17 in the driver’s standings with 12 points in 21 races.