Tsunoda fined for “offensive language on team radio”: $40,000 fine for the Japanese driver after today’s incident
An unfortunate incident occurred during Q1 of qualifying in Austria: while all drivers were proceeding very slowly, preventing those further back in the queue from doing a fast outlap, Yuki Tsunoda made a seriously offensive comment over the radio according to FIA regulations, stating that “These guys are f*king ret*rds.”
The FIA decided to investigate and penalize the Japanese driver with a $40,000 fine (half of which is suspended and will be returned to the driver if there are no further offenses), writing that “Tsunoda does not speak English as his first language, and when he learned the meaning of what he said, he was horrified at himself. He believed the meaning was different, although he knows this is not an excuse. The stewards appreciate the honesty, but the words were definitely inappropriate.”.
This was Tsunoda’s message after the fine, on his social media channels: “Hello, I wanted to apologize for what I said today on the radio. I obviously did not use it intentionally and completely misunderstood its exact meaning. I now have a better understanding of the word’s meaning and I am very sorry for what I said. This type of language has no place and is not tolerated and for that, I am sorry.”
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