At the Hungaroring, Yuki Tsunoda causes a cloud of dust as he crashes at Turn 5.
The FIA have replaced the grass strip at the Hungaroring’s Turn 5 with gravel after Yuki Tsunoda suffered a heavy shunt in qualifying.
From the high of getting both cars in Saturday’s Q3 for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Tsunoda’s side of the VCARB garage found themselves with a lot of work to rebuild his VCARB01 after a big off.
Turn 5 issue was raised with the FIA ‘in the drivers’ briefing’
The driver from Japan veered off course at Turn 5, accidentally driving onto the grass strip. Unfortunately, he couldn’t maintain control of his car and collided with the barriers, resulting in significant damage to the left side of the VCARB.
During the drivers’ briefing, concerns were raised about the grass strip, and team boss Peter Bayer pointed fingers at it as the cause of the problem.
“It was mentioned in the drivers’ briefing,” Bayer told Motorsport.com. “The ground sank a little and there is a wave that has the effect like a sausage kerb. He found it.”
As a result, the FIA decided to conduct a more thorough examination of the grass, leading them to make the decision to remove it overnight and replace it with gravel.
FIA race director Niels Wittich has confirmed in his pre-race notes that the grass strip behind the exit kerb in Turn 5 on the left-hand side has undergone a replacement of the last 4.0 m with gravel.
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Tsunoda gave his thoughts on his crash to F1TV, saying: “To be honest, I felt great in the turn — I didn’t expect that!. I just ran wide to be honest, probably because I was on the limit.
“It’s clearly Q3, and half of the tire ended up on the grass — but honestly, occurrences like these are quite common.”
“Perhaps due to the wet conditions, it amplified the effect, causing me to veer off course.”
“Frankly speaking, the lap was going great until that corner, or rather, even until Turn 5. It’s quite a shame though.”
His VCARB team-mate Daniel Ricciardo will begin the Grand Prix one position ahead at P9 on the grid, while he will start from the 10th.
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