Tsunoda was forced to withdraw from Saturday’s race in Azerbaijan after a strange start two laps into the sprint.

After a clash with teammate Nick de Vries, the Japanese scraped a wall on the opening lap and when he returned to the pits his right rear tire flew off the rim – briefly rolling off the track.

After returning to the pits for a tire change, Kakuta faced a new challenge when he returned to the race, as he discovered that the right rear wheel and suspension were out of balance.

His car was moving slowly for a lap before he pitted and retired.

AlphaTauri was fined by the FIA ​​for an unsafe release after the governing body felt the team could have done more to check that the car was safe before releasing it.

However, AlphaTauri’s own investigation this week concluded that the suspension was intact when the car left the pits, and that the rear tie rod only failed when the right hand from the pit exit passed the load.

Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, AlphaTauri’s head of vehicle performance Guillaume Dezoteux told Autosport that analysis after the fact painted a slightly different picture than what happened that day.

“We did a lot of research on sprinting,” he said. “And in fact, when Yuki stopped, the car was undamaged and could be released safely.

Tsunoda also suffered a puncture earlier in the weekend

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

“We’ve seen the right rear suspension fail on the exit from the pit lane and then the car becomes a three-wheeler that you see on TV.”

Dezoteux explained that the mechanics did perform a thorough inspection of the suspension during the pit stop and found nothing wrong – and the data after the fact confirmed this.

“During the pit stop, we did look at it,” he said. “We couldn’t see any damage, we saw in data and video footage that this (suspension broke) only happened later.

“There was no movement and freedom in the rear suspension at the time, so we decided to send the car out.

“It’s a relief for us, for sure, because it’s always difficult to deal with situations like this. We’re happy to see that in the end we’ll be able to make a judgment call because we never intended to use three Wheels to send it out.”

team progress

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT04

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

AlphaTauri has had a rocky start to the season but has started to make some progress – Tsunoda entered the third quarter in Baku and brought home a top-10 finish.

Dezoteux said the Azerbaijani circuit’s features are good for his team’s 2023 car, which also bodes well for its chances in Miami.

“This track layout is conducive to good powerplant performance and (aero) efficient packages,” he said. “There’s not a lot of air load sensitivity there, which helps us.

“We have good mechanical grip and, in terms of setup, we have chosen a car that is very compliant and easier to drive to help the drivers get uphill quickly on this track.

“It paid off for Yuki, but it was difficult for Nyck because there was so little free practice time and the few laps you got, it was all about getting into qualifying.”