Tsunoda explains hilarious Qatar ‘beaver’ radio confusion

Yuki Tsunoda hilariously revealed that he thought he had been told there was a beaver on the Lusail International Circuit, during the Qatar Grand Prix. 

Tsunoda started the penultimate round of the season in 14th place and recovered only to P13, cementing a difficult event for RB with Liam Lawson finishing in 15th. 

With Pierre Gasly securing fifth for Alpine, the Faenza-based outfit require a miracle in Abu Dhabi to snatch sixth in the constructors’ standings. 

Alpine boast a 13-point margin over RB, whilst Haas are five points behind the French outfit. However, this was overlooked following Tsunoda’s comical comment. 

The Qatar GP was a chaotic affair, with several incidents having been triggered by Kevin Magnussen’s wing mirror falling onto the start/finish straight. 

To Tsunoda’s bewilderment, he thought his race engineer told him a beaver was on the circuit. Given that Qatar is in the Middle East, this came as a mid-race shock to the Japanese driver. 

Remarkably, it was not until after the race when speaking to media including RacingNews365, that he discovered that a beaver was not on the circuit, but a wing mirror instead.

“Was it mirror? I heard beaver,” Tsunoda revealed.

“My engineers said: ‘There’s a beaver.’ But why is there a beaver in the Middle East? Like how is it possible a beaver is in the Middle East?

“But okay, maybe there’s a surprise with global warming – kicking a lot of interesting things in the Earth.”

It took several laps for a safety car to be triggered to recover the debris, which was later scattered across the circuit after being struck by Valtteri Bottas. 

In Tsunoda’s opinion, the loose wing mirror should have been removed from the circuit as soon as it fell from Magnussen’s car.

“Definitely in that case, definitely should immediately [get a virtual safety car], it was a bit too late.” added Tsunoda.