Yuki Tsunoda can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The Racing Bulls driver has managed to hold on to his first point of the season at the Italian Grand Prix after an investigation into his grid position at the restart ended without a penalty.
The incident occurred during the lap-six restart at Monza, triggered by Charles Leclerc's crash on lap two. At that time, Yuki Tsunoda appeared to stop outside his grid box while taking up his 14th position. Race control, uncomfortable with his car's position, quickly added an extra formation lap, and the case was reviewed after the race.
The stewards summoned Tsunoda and team representatives for an alleged breach of the start procedure. If found guilty, he could have lost his valuable point for finishing 10th—his first of the season in his second outing with Racing Bulls.
Tsunoda explained his confusion at the start. "I was a bit confused starting between 14th and 15th. In my view, I didn't really gain the position before the red flag. I thought I was 15th. But at least I parked behind the box, pretty far, so I don't think I gained any advantage for that," he said, as reported by Motorsport.com.
The stewards eventually agreed with Racing Bulls that Tsunoda was not in a false start position and that there was no impact on other competitors. The additional formation lap was a decision at the race director's discretion, and technically not caused by Tsunoda himself since the team had not been informed. Therefore, there was no reason to penalize the Japanese driver.
This decision comes as a relief for Tsunoda, who lost his regular seat at the end of last season and is now Red Bull's reserve driver. He returned to Racing Bulls to deputize for Liam Lawson, who moved up to Red Bull to replace the injured Isack Hadjar.
With this point, Tsunoda shows solid performance in a challenging season. Can he maintain this momentum in the upcoming rounds? We'll see.
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