Tsunoda already "confident" in Red Bull, despite a notable area for improvement

The question of his adaptation naturally arose, after the failure of Liam Lawson and the end of the season in a damp squib for Sergio Pérez, but Yuki tsunoda manages – for the moment – ​​to sweep away doubts. The Japanese is certainly not yet at the level of Max Verstappen, and it will take time to get there, if he ever does. On the other hand, the Japanese have already done better than their predecessors by managing to qualify for Q3 and having scored two points in Bahrain (9th).

The former teammate of Pierre Gasly manages to adapt to a car reputed to be capricious, and its adaptation was facilitated by Red Bull, which offered him a TPC – a test on cars at least two years old – at Silverstone. “I had typical British weather. It started to rain, and unfortunately, we didn't bring wet weather tires, because the goal was really to do my stints and get some mileage. So, we had to wait quite a while for the track to dry. And then, yes, unfortunately, we also had a little problem at the end of the day,” says Yuki Tsunoda, who was therefore unable to fully enjoy it, even though he speaks of a " good experience ».

“To be honest, it’s hard to feel the differences in these conditions. It was completely different, and the corners had a completely different character than in previous races I’ve done. So I didn’t want to give unnecessary or confusing feedback. I tried to explain clearly what I felt, even if I didn’t know exactly. But I think it was still a good test for me, to get back into rhythm and build up some mileage.”

Qualifying, no room for improvement for Tsunoda

Although his debut at Red Bull has been generally positive, Yuki Tsunoda still needs to improve, particularly in qualifying, where he is still struggling to extract the last tenths of a second. « I think I just need a little more time to fully get used to it. Honestly, I'm pretty happy with my progress so far," assures the Japanese pilot.

“The confidence is there, I think, but it’s especially when you push 100% in qualifying that the real limits appear. And that’s really when you discover certain behaviors for the first time. You don’t really push hard before that. And for me, the starting point is still a little bit below where I was used to starting in F1, so I have to build it little by little. It takes a little longer, especially on new circuits."

“In qualifying so far, I've felt new reactions from the car, and sometimes I haven't been able to cope with them. It's not that the car is very difficult to drive, but it takes more time to understand where the limit is. Maybe with time, it will come naturally – understanding those limits, it will become part of my muscle memory. Maybe on the track in Miami, I'll feel something different.”

“To be completely honest, in the last two races, I haven't been able to put everything together in Q3. Up until Q2, it was okay – I was building my progression well between Q1, Q2 and Q3 – and then in Q3, you really push. But if you push just 2% more than the car can handle, it reacts in a completely different way to what I'm used to. And at the moment, I can't predict those reactions yet. I think that will come with experience and time spent with Red Bull. It's definitely something I need to work on.”

In three qualifying sessions with Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda has already reached Q3 twice, but has never managed to get within 0 seconds of his teammate Max Verstappen. While Helmut Marko and Christian Horner don't expect him to do better than the exceptional four-time world champion, they do expect him to finish within a reasonable distance, which includes being within half a second. In Miami, Yuki Tsunoda has the opportunity to continue his progression at a circuit where he reached Q9 in 3 and 2022.

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