Tsunoda’s final 2024 outing didn’t go much better after that anti-stall issue on the grid. He fought back with a long opening stint on the medium tyre, but was unable to keep some faster cars behind in the closing stages, losing out to Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri as he came home 12th.
“To be honest, my race was almost gone in the first start – I don’t know exactly what happened there, I need to hear the feedback from the team,” Tsunoda said.
READ MORE: Norris ‘so proud’ of McLaren as Abu Dhabi win ensures team take first constructors’ title since 1998
“I’m 99% sure the clutch was stuck, never in my life have I had anti-stall at the start and just can’t move at all. I don’t think I did anything wrong with the procedure and actually I felt it clearly when I came into the pit lane to do a pit stop. The clutch was stuck and I couldn’t stop properly.
“It was a great shame in the last race especially, you want to at least have a nice race. I tried my best afterwards, but it didn’t work out, so pretty tough.”
RB finished the season in eighth place, 12 points behind Haas.