Scott Mitchell has ripped into Red Bull for criticising Yuki Tsunoda, saying that they were essentially hindering his development.
Tsunoda was involved in a qualifying disaster for Red Bull at the Mexican GP. He was called out by the Red Bull higher-ups, even though he was not at fault for what happened.
The Japanese rookie ran off the track and waited there to let the other cars go. However, both Red Bulls threw their quails behind him. He was then singled out as the reason for their failure.
Mitchell ripped into Red Bull for criticising Tsunoda, and questioned them regarding shooting down his confidence.
In his column for the Race, Mitchell wrote, “Red Bull’s treatment of Yuki Tsunoda in the immediate aftermath of Mexican Grand Prix qualifying was unfair and could have needlessly damaged the Formula 1 rookie’s rebuilding process.
“Tsunoda had few options. There was one corner before the sweeps of the middle sector began and he didn’t have time to move aside there.
“It prompted Red Bull team boss Christian Horner to declare ‘we got Tsunoda’d’ and even claim, ‘I don’t understand why he was just cruising around at that part of the circuit.’
“Helmut Marko said Tsunoda had spoiled the laps of both Red Bulls. (Sergio) Perez said Tsunoda shouldn’t have been on the track in Q3 with his penalty.
“This smacked of Red Bull looking for a scapegoat after underperforming, as underwhelming first runs had handed Mercedes a provisional one-two (that then became a real one-two) and Perez made a pretty silly error that he tried to blame on being in Tsunoda’s dirty air.”
Not acceptable
Mitchell also slammed Red Bull for their treatment of Tsunoda, and said that his confidence could have been affected.
“Tsunoda even asked us, the media, ‘Do you think I did the wrong thing?’ At best it made a driver low on confidence second-guess himself,” he continued.
“At worst it creates an uncomfortable sense of fear. And that is entirely undeserved.”
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