This is due to changes made to his car during parc ferme, specifically, to the setup of his suspension, a breach under 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 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.”
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.