FIA announce late demotion for Red Bull F1 star at Miami Grand Prix sprint race

Thumbnail for article regarding FIA remark on Red Bull brakes — Photo: © IMAGO

Miami Grand Prix

FIA announce late demotion for Red Bull F1 star at Miami Grand Prix sprint race

The FIA have announced a late change to the starting grid for the Miami Grand Prix sprint

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 3 May 2025 17:13 Updated: 19:28

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The FIA have confirmed that Yuki Tsunoda will start the sprint race at the Miami Grand Prix from the pit lane after Red Bull made late changes to his car.

Tsunoda endured a nightmare sprint qualifying session on Friday, where he failed to make it out of SQ1 and was originally slated to start the sprint race in P18.

However, the team changed the setup of his suspension during parc fermé conditions which has resulted in a late demotion for Tsunoda.

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The Japanese driver will instead start the sprint race from the pit lane, and behind all remaining 19 drivers on the grid due to the breach of Article 40.9 b) of the sporting regulations.

The sporting regulations state: "If the parc fermé conditions are breached before the start of the sprint session, the relevant driver must start the sprint session from the pit lane."

Tsunoda's Miami Grand Prix weekend off to a miserable start

Tsunoda would have hoped for a better start to his race weekend in Miami, after the 24-year-old retired during the opening stages of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix following an incident with Pierre Gasly.

As a result, Tsunoda has only scored two points in his first three rounds as a Red Bull driver in 2025 as he still adjusts to his new team.

Tsunoda blamed his failure to progress into SQ2 on 'poor communication' with his team, where he ran out of time to set a final lap in SQ1.

"Some intelligent car just came out from [the] pit and [I had to] abort my lap. A lot of cars cost my lap quite a lot," Tsunoda said to the media after sprint qualifying.

“First lap… yeah, to be honest that’s it. In the last corner I had quite a lock-up, but to be honest the lap was pretty gone already from Turn 1 because of the car at pit exit. Just [wasn’t] able to do a proper lap at all, so that’s it.”

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Red Bull Max Verstappen FIA Yuki Tsunoda Miami Grand Prix