Yuki Tsunoda adds more Mercedes pain with Lewis Hamilton feedback

Yuki Tsunoda believes passing Lewis Hamilton would have been within reach in Brazil, had he not experienced car issues late on.

Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate George Russell fell back through the field after problems with tyre wear and low straight-line speed on the W14, with Russell having to retire late on over concerns surrounding his power unit overheating.

Hamilton came home eighth ahead of Tsunoda, but the AlphaTauri driver felt that he was hamstrung himself late on and could have joined the likes of Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz in passing the Mercedes driver during the race.

Yuki Tsunoda reacts to late push to pass Lewis Hamilton at Interlagos

Tsunoda still spoke in a somewhat disappointed tone despite making up seven places during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday, putting a handful of crucial points on the board for AlphaTauri in both the Sprint and full-length race.

But with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo having had his rear wing broken through no fault of his own by a flying tyre in the Turn 1 melee at the start of the race on Sunday, that prevented AlphaTauri from claiming what Tsunoda felt would be a double points finish.

But having had seven-time World Champion Hamilton in his sights late on, he felt frustrated to have not been able to mount a challenge.

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“Yeah, I would say so,” Tsunoda said when asked if he was pleased with his performance in Sao Paulo.

“Definitely I could have done more, but yeah, sorry for the team. Also in the end I wasn’t able to push [to the] maximum for several reasons.

“But yeah, overall, I mean, P16 to P9 is still good. Well done to the team, I think it’s also unfortunate for Daniel that he had also been off on his side, we would have scored points.”

When asked what problems befell his car, he did not want to reveal too many secrets, but felt that the issue stopped him from piling more misery on Mercedes by pushing Hamilton further down the order come the chequered flag.

“I can’t say specifically for this one, but it’s quite a lot,” he said, before being pressed on which drivers he felt he could have been able to overtake come the chequered flag without those problems.

“Lewis maybe, other than that I don’t know about Pierre but Lewis, quite a high chance.”

Read next: George Russell delivers damning Mercedes indictment after Brazil GP embarrassment