DHL Fastest Pit Stop not enough for Yuki Tsunoda to salvage anything from a disastrous weekend

The São Paulo Grand Prix will have left Yuki Tsunoda fearing for his future at Red Bull Racing. Sunday’s race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace was the low point of an already unremarkable weekend. The team sent Tsunoda into the race on hard tires and, although he managed to gain a couple of places at the start, they then called him in for an early pit stop on the second lap.

The pit crew changed Tsunoda’s tires in 1.95 seconds, thereby registering their fifth DHL Fastest Pit Stop of the season and the third fastest of all pit stops in 2025. But their speedy work was to go unrewarded. After the safety car restart on lap 6, Tsunoda lost control of his RB21 going into Turn 8, skidded past Franco Colapinto on the inside and collided with the rear of Lance Stroll’s car.

Tsunoda was hit with a ten-second penalty for causing the shunt. While serving the time-out on lap 24, an overeager mechanic began unbolting the left rear wheel before the time had fully elapsed. Because the rules state that no work may be carried out on the car before the penalty has been served in full, Tsunoda was obliged to sit out a further ten seconds.

This effectively ended Tsunoda’s race, and he eventually crossed the finish line in last place, more than a minute behind winner Lando Norris. “It’s a shame about the contact – I didn’t even notice it, to be honest,” admitted Tsunoda, who had also fired blanks in the sprint. Not even the good pace he showed in the final stint of the race could cheer up the Red Bull number two after his disastrous weekend in Brazil: “This weekend, nothing worked for me, nothing at all.”