Preparations for the Las Vegas Grand Prix could have gone much more smoothly for Yuki Tsunoda who had trouble with the US Border Force upon arrival at the airport
Preparations for the Las Vegas Grand Prix could have gone much more smoothly for Yuki Tsunoda who had trouble with the US Border Force upon arrival at the airport Preparations for the Las Vegas Grand Prix could have gone much more smoothly for Yuki Tsunoda who had trouble with the US Border Force upon arrival at the airport
Yuki Tsunoda was interrogated for three hours by US border officials as he narrowly avoided being denied entry into the country for this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The Visa Cash App RB racer said he was held in an interrogation room where he was quizzed, before eventually being allowed to enter the country. The baffling incident came despite Tsunoda having already visited the US to race twice this year and having no such issues when arriving ahead of the events in Miami or Austin. Like on those occasions, the Japanese driver had all his visas and other travel documents with him when he arrived ahead of the Las Vegas race.
He said: “They let me in after a couple of discussions. Well, a lot of discussions – actually, I nearly got sent back home. Everything is all good now, luckily I am here now.
“I had the visas and everything, been the same I guess the last three tracks, right? I was able to enter smoothly [at the] previous tracks. It felt a bit strange I got stopped and had a proper discussion. Luckily it did not go more than two or three hours. But yeah I felt… it was going to be a long travel for me.”
It remains unclear as to exactly why Tsunoda was stopped at customs. But it was a scary experience for the 24-year-old who said he was not allowed to contact anyone from his team, from F1 or his travelling companions for some time.
He explained: “Obviously, when you have questions and go to customs, you go individually. I went to the room, he put me in the room and we had a conversation, even like, ‘Can I bring the person that travel with and maybe he can help a little bit to explain a bit more about myself and the situation in Formula 1?’
“But they did not allow me to bring that friend or even call anything. I wanted to call to the team or Formula 1 that can help me, but in that room you cannot do anything. I was wearing pyjamas, so maybe I did not look like a Formula 1 driver!
“I got a lot of pressure from them, but I was like, I could not say anything otherwise – if I say something, I feel like I am more in trouble.”
Tsunoda is able to compete at the Las Vegas race as usual and will look to build on the six points he scored last time out in Brazil, after he had qualified third – his highest starting position in F1 to date. That result was much-needed as it ended a seven-event pointless run which included three DNFs in Italy, Azerbaijan and Mexico.
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Mirror – Sport
