Yuki Tsunoda began his first season in Bahrain in an impressive way, scoring the second fastest lap during the tests and managing to get a ninth place after not getting through Q2 on his maiden race weekend. He was the first Japanese driver to score points in nine years, and the first debutant to get into the top ten on a first race since Stoffel Vandroorne in 2016.

However, he had a rather more complicated race in Imola three weeks later. Tsunoda crashed at the beginning of the Q1 session, losing the rear of the the car at the exit of Variante Alta. He walked out out of it without a scratch, but the car was left in a pretty bad shape, and needed a new gearbox and power unit components.

The AlphaTauri driver explained at the time that he was "just pushing too much at entry" and that he felt bad especially for the added workload he put on his team:"I was just too excited. For me, that was a silly mistake, so I feel really sorry for the team."

Starting at the back of the grid, he ended the race in 12th place, missing on the chance of a better placement because of a spin just after the end of the red flag, and a time penalty received due to exceeded track limits.

Regardless of the final result, AlphaTauri technical director Jody Egginton has liked the approach of the Japanese driver to the new championship, and believes that he doesn't have to change his driving style: “I think it’s fair to say that he’s been reasonably measured up to now. It’s not a trend of him pushing too hard and going over the top, it just got away from him today."

Egginton added: "The lap started well, he was not wayward earlier in the lap or doing anything that was ridiculous. Sector 1 looked quite nice, Sector 2 looked OK. He just got on the throttle a little bit early on the kerb and it’s all got away from him."

He said that these kind of mistakes are common among young drivers: “It’s just one of those things that happens with a young driver, early in their career. I think any of these guys [in F1] have always had these incidents."

Egginton hopes that Tsunoda will gain experience from the crash, and concluded: “In hindsight, he probably could have taken a bit more margin, but that’s part of the rookie journey isn’t it?”

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko criticised his "overconfident" attitude, and said that "it was "a stupid mistake".

“I spoke to him and he was quite downbeat,” Marko said. "But you can’t make him even smaller than he already is,” he jokingly added.

“He had a fast car that was absolutely Q3 ready. He had great sector times on his very first lap. It doesn't help at all to set a great time there. He was overconfident.”