Yuki Tsunoda says anyone believing his retirement from the Dutch Grand Prix was part of a conspiracy to help Max Verstappen win needs their head examined.

The AlphaTauri driver stopped on track reporting a loose wheel, then was told to return to the pits by his team. After having his belts re-tightened and tires changed, Tsunoda was sent back out but reported the same issue and stopped again, causing a Virtual Safety Car that allowed Verstappen to pit and retain the lead while under pressure from the Mercedes drivers. However, Tsunoda was not impressed by any conspiracy theories that he was trying to influence the outcome of the race.

“It’s funny that fans are really excited to always create a story,” Tsunoda said. “It’s just a super simple fact that there was an issue in the car and we’ve confirmed it was a differential issue. Of course, the situation made it a little bit confused. But there’s not such room to complain to the team, myself and also especially to Red Bull, such a to be honest crazy, crazy story.

“I was also running in a good opportunity to score points, so there’s not any reason to help Max, you know?”

Asked if he understood why fans were cynical, Tsunoda replied: “First, I don’t wanna know! I don’t care.

“I want to ask what you brain looks like — scan the MRI and see what’s wrong. It’s funny how they create a story. Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri are completely different teams — we are in Italy, they are in the UK. We compete in a completely different field.”

Tsunoda says he doesn’t expect such a response to a retirement despite the fact Red Bull owns AlphaTauri and runs its junior drivers in the team.

“First, I didn’t know Max was driving in P1 or P2. I don’t care about Red Bull Racing because I’m just focusing on my job. The restart and things that made it confusing for everyone… but we didn’t find an issue — if the team thinks there wasn’t any issue in the car, then I agree, why don’t they ask me to restart again to race? Even if we are not in the points.

“I felt straight away there was an issue, clearly. That situation made it a little bit confusing. Lots of people think about what is going on. There’s not any connection between Red Bull and AlphaTauri for those things. In that case, why don’t they ask Pierre (Gasly)? I was in front of him.”