Yuki Tsunoda had a tough qualifying session at his home Grand Prix in Japan, even though things started off well on his debut weekend for Red Bull. He looked strong in the free practice sessions and finished seventh in Q1, just 0.024 seconds behind his teammate Max Verstappen.

But in Q2, things didn’t quite go his way. He wasn’t able to put together a clean lap and ended up in 15th place on the grid and after Carlos Sainz's penalty will start 14th tomorrow.

To make matters more frustrating, Liam Lawson, the driver Tsunoda replaced for this weekend, qualified just ahead of him in 13th. Still, it was a decent effort from Tsunoda, as reaching Q2 is something Lawson didn’t manage to do in his first two races earlier in the season. So even though the result wasn’t ideal, there were still positives to take away.

After the session, Tsunoda explained what went wrong. He said the preparation for his final lap wasn’t perfect, which cost him the chance to go further. “I just missed the window, I guess in Q2,” he said, quoted by Motorsport Week.

“I didn’t get to do the warm-up I wanted as in the previous runs.” He also mentioned that a sudden gust of wind caught him off guard. “Quite a big gust in Turn 2, quite a big moment with that, unexpected,” he added.

The Japanese driver also talked about the car setup and how it differed from Verstappen’s. He said he went with a different level of rear wing downforce, which might have affected his performance. “It’s a bit different to Max’s, but the wing level I chose in the end,” he explained.

“Still, there was pace to go through into Q3 today, looking at the Q1 pace. I just couldn’t put it together in the end.”

Even though he didn’t reach Q3, Tsunoda stayed calm and positive. He said he didn’t feel too much pressure, even though it was his first qualifying session for Red Bull and in front of his home crowd

“Surprisingly, I think I feel okay in terms of pressure,” he said. “I probably felt the pressure more last year than this year. This year I just have more of a mindset to enjoy it and feel the car.”

He admitted the Red Bull car is quite difficult to drive and takes time to get used to. “It’s quite difficult to operate this car properly, it’s quite narrow, more than a big car,” he said.

But overall, he felt he was starting to understand it better. “At least I feel confident in the car, and I know what to do for the future, I guess.” Now he will be hoping to make up for it in the race and give his home fans something to cheer about.