Tsunoda crash on 'Verstappen scale': VCARB reveals G-forces
- Estéban den Toom
It was quite a blow for Yuki Tsunoda in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Japanese lost control of the car in Q3 and ended up with his car in the wall. Compared to Max Verstappen 's crash at Silverstone, this crash had more G-forces. Visa Cash App RB revealed the number of G-forces from the crash after the weekend.
"Our Japanese driver was on a blisteringly fast lap in the shoot-out for the top 10 places on the grid, but it came to a sudden and dramatic end, when he got one wheel on the wet grass at the exit to Turn 5, totally destroying his VCARB 01," the constructor explained in the debrief after the Hungarian race weekend.
The impact of the crash was quite severe. "Truth be told, the subsequent red flag also spoilt Daniel [Ricciardo]'s chances of grabbing a higher grid slot. Thanks to the sport’s incredibly high safety standards, Yuki was able to walk away unscathed from this 68G impact and would therefore start the Grand Prix from tenth, one place behind Daniel," VCARB wrote.
Compare with Verstappen and Grosjean
Verstappen's crash at Silverstone in 2021 when he collided with Lewis Hamilton was 51G. Romain Grosjean' s crash on the opening lap for the Bahrain Grand Prix was a whopping 53G. Tsunoda did have to visit the medical centre briefly after qualifying, but there, after enquiring from GPblog, he was found to be okay.
This article was written in collaboration with Sophia Crothall.