Tsunoda fears gearbox issue after qualifying crash

Yuki Tsunoda revealed issues with the gearbox on his AlphaTauri prevented him from getting back to the pits after crashing in the opening session of qualifying for the French Grand Prix.

Japanese driver Tsunoda lost control as he went over the extra-high inner kerbs in turn one, unsettling the car and causing him to be pitched into a spin and into the barriers, stopping the session.

“After I spun, I tried to shift down to first gear to restart,” said Tsunoda. ”The rear wing was broken, but still I thought I could manage to get out from there, but something, the gear was not working.

“I went to neutral and also the reverse was working but I think the clutch was not working and the car did not move at all. Hopefully it is not the gearbox, but, yeah.“

It was the second race weekend in succession that Tsunoda has crashed out in qualifying, having hit the wall in the top-ten shoot out at the last race in Baku.

This was also not Tsunoda's first Q1 crash of the year, the 20-year-old finding the barriers at Imola in what was the second race of his F1 career.

The session was stopped again later on when Mick Schumacher crashed his Haas car into the barriers and damaged his suspension. For Haas, this was a double blow as Schumacher had been able to secure a position in Q2 for the first time.

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