Yuki Tsunoda fumes at Liam Lawson after Monza clash and accuses Lewis Hamilton: "Dived right into me"

Yuki Tsunoda fumed after Monza, blaming Lawson’s contact for race-ruining damage

Yuki Tsunoda finished his 2025 Italian Grand Prix in frustration after clashes with both Liam Lawson and Lewis Hamilton. The former left his car with damage, compromising his race. Particularly annoyed with the Racing Bulls driver, he vented his anger after another difficult race behind the wheel of the Red Bull car.

"I got distracted by Lawson, who made [contact with me] and that was quite big. I picked up damage and that was big enough to slow me down quite a lot, so very frustrating and very unnecessary for me," Tsunoda said when asked about the incident.

When pressed on the extent of the damage and how it affected the downforce of his RB21, the Japanese driver admitted it was substantial.

"I haven't heard the specific details, but it's not even like a few points, it's really, really big," he said before he questioned why Lawson was driving so aggressively towards him in the first place.

"I was gaining one second per lap and he started last and he was not even fighting for points," Tsunoda explained. "I don't know. If you're fighting for points, there's room that I can understand because even with a sister team... we're enemies and especially this position where I'm sitting now is probably my most high competition out of any world.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

"But at the same time, there's a line, you can't cross it and I mean, what's the point? I was fighting for points and he wasn't. I don't know what to say."

Moving on to his skirmish with Ferrari's seven-time champion, he accused Hamilton of squeezing him.

"Yeah, that was clear he squeezed. Probably even he didn't even make a corner at Turn 1, right?" Tsunoda asked. "So I'm happy with what I did.

"I'm happy that I was able to avoid the collision. That was a good point actually! I'll raise myself. He didn't even make the corner so he dived right into me so I'll actually raise the point."

Hamilton offered a brief response on his part: "I don't know, I didn't see it."

It has been a challenging season for Tsunoda, who did his best to extract the positives from his Monza campaign.

"It's not easy, but at the same time, you just have to do it. It's a tough situation," he reflected on bouncing back from multiple disappointments. "I think [my] quali lap is getting better and better. There's some positives."