Yuki Tsunoda ‘s third race in navy under Red Bull was the Saudi Arabian GP. The now Red Bull driver was swapped from his previous Racing Bull seat to make way for Liam Lawson. The swap happened prior to the Japanese GP. How is Tsunoda in his new team?
The results are still impressive for Tsunoda who had prepared for the season with a completely different car and team. It is even more commending when it’s reported that his teammate Max Verstappen is also struggling with the car.
Red Bull’s struggles at the Bahrain GP
During the Bahrain GP, Verstappen clearly struggled with the car the entire weekend. He had ended the race in P6, one position above where he had qualified. The reigning champion reported struggling with his brakes causing him to lose positions during the race among many other factors.
Tsunoda left the Bahrain GP with his first points in navy with a hard fought P9 session. The weekend was no doubt tough on the Japanese driver. He confessed that Bahrain was one of the tracks where the RB21’s weakness were only amplified as compared to other tracks.
“I think Bahrain was the track that I think this RB21 exaggerated quite a lot more than other tracks, like brake issues. There was an issue also I had from FP1 that I was already mentioning. It’s not a thing that we can solve immediately.“
Tsunoda vs Verstappen’s struggles with the RB21
When asked if he was surprised Verstappen was also struggled, he had replied that his teammate struggles were different from his. Explaining that Verstappen was failing to improve on a set-up he wanted while Tsunoda himself was still learning the ropes of the team and instead chose to explore different set-ups during the Saudi Arabian GP.
“At the same time, it’s hard because Max didn’t have much idea how to improve throughout the week because there were lots of things happening. Sliding and the car was not really reacting to the setup he was trying as well, the way he wanted. “
“For me, outside, I was completely concentrating on different stuff.I feel like I’m still a rookie in this team, so I was just trying to make a separate mind. I was just trying to discover, explore a lot of setups. I knew anyway how Max built throughout the week, but how I built confidence throughout the week is completely different because he didn’t have massive confidence in his car. So I just made it separate and tried to nail it down in qualifying.”
Learning to find pace
Tsunoda claims he’s still learning how to draw pace out of the RB21 in the Saudi Arabian GP. With the goal of ensuring he’ll make it to Q3 in Qualifying , he will need to be able to match pace with his teammate Verstappen. Free Practice sessions are what the japanese driver uses to learn about the car and familiarise himself with the new chassis. His primary focus right now is to build a solid foundation for when he’s ready to fight for wins.
“Obviously, I’m still learning, but also the pace has to come at the same time. But those things are always important in qualifying and race. As long as the two sessions are in a good position that Red Bull wants me to be in.”
“For me, FP1 to FP3 is what I use as a learning session. It’s my first time driving a completely different car. I only drove a VCARB [ Racing Bulls] car in the last four years.It’s the first time I drove a completely different team’s car. I’m trying to use that. I know that if I don’t unlock that area, I won’t be able to probably beat him[ Verstappen ].”
“I know myself that I can’t beat him straight away, so I’m just trying to build a good baseline and wait for the moment that I can be in the shape.“
