Tsunoda apologises to Red Bull having admitted fault for FP2 crash at Saudi Arabian GP

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda revealed his own mistake led to the crash that curtailed second practice for the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - admitting he 'turned too much' in the final corner.

Tsunoda tagged the wall at the final hairpin coming onto the main straight with under nine minutes left, which appeared to break his track rod and left him unable to avoid clattering into the exit barrier.

Tsunoda climbed out unhurt and soon apologised to his Red Bull team for the substantial repair job his mechanics will have on its hands on Friday night.

"Just turning too much and clipped the inside wall and just had damage," the Japanese driver told F1 TV. "After that, just no control. Apologies to the team, things were looking good, so it's a shame."

Tsunoda had enjoyed a solid session up to that point, taking the sixth-fastest time, seven tenths behind session leader Lando Norris in the McLaren, and four tenths behind his world champion team-mate Max Verstappen.

"The qualifying [simulation] lap was pretty good. I was a bit compromised with the [tyre] warm-up, but so far pretty okay," Tsunoda said.

Watch: Why Hamilton Was Doom and Gloom in the F1 Paddock - Saudi Arabia GP Practice Analysis

"I had a limited time on the long run which I caused by myself [with the crash] so I can't really complain. It's not definitely not how I wanted to end up, that's for sure.

"The short runs are okay, I just compromised a bit with the warm-up, so there's a bit more [lap time] there."

Despite the incident, Red Bull boss Christian Horner praised Tsunoda's start to life at the team and believes he had a good Friday in Jeddah nonetheless.

"He's made a mistake, but up until that point he's driven very well so you can see his confidence is coming," said Horner.

"His times are starting to come so it's good to see the number 22 car making progress. He had a sensible first session. His short runs were good and it was just a shame he's had that moment, but it shows they're all pushing.”

Norris headed team-mate Oscar Piastri by 0.163s to lead the second practice, which was held at the same time of day as Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race, providing a much more representative picture than the sweltering first practice session headed by Alpine's Pierre Gasly.

But Verstappen and Tsunoda tend to run Friday with relatively conservative engine modes, suggesting Red Bull's Saudi form on the vastly different Jeddah Corniche circuit may not be as disastrous as at its sobering Bahrain weekend.