Yuki Tsunoda secured his best result of the season at the F1 Azerbaijan GP. The driver had a strong Qualifying, grabbing P6 around the tricky Baku track. On Sunday, Tsunoda stormed across the finish line to clinch sixth place during the race.
The Red Bull driver suffered a tumultuous season thus far. Starting off the year in Racing Bulls, then being promoted to Red Bull after only two races, the future looked bright. However, with the challenges of the RB21, the second Red Bull seat is not an easy task to bear.
Red Bull pushing with upgrades
Despite it looking sour for the team, the more recent race weekends have proved fruitful. When asked if he believes the car is improved and good enough to win everywhere, Tsunoda positively responded:
“Teams are pushing a lot in terms of this, upgrades and everything, trying to secure some milliseconds every corner, which is very important. We are more confident in the coming races to perform better. I’m sure we’re not giving up with this season, especially securing the driver championship for Max. I’ll try to extract performance as much as possible from the car that I have and also, at the same time, for some races, if I can support him, that would be good.”
While the Constructors Championship is out of reach as a result of the dominance of McLaren, the Driver’s Championship is still up for grabs. Despite Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris having the dominant car, Max Verstappen could still be within reach of securing his fifth World Championship. The Dutchman currently lies 69 points behind Piastri. With the recent improvements of the RB21, and seven rounds to go, Verstappen’s fifth title remains a realistic possibility.
Adrenaline on the streets of Baku
Additionally, Tsunoda was asked about the feeling of the challenge of Lando Norris wanting to overtake behind. The Japanese driver was forced to get his elbows out when defending his position from the Brit.
“Oh, it’s not easy, there’s a lot of adrenaline that takes to dive on the inside, which I probably, a couple of opportunities if I look back, maybe two or one which I had, but you know it’s a street circuit which is very dirty. It’s also easy to lose from also a car behind, especially driving like that close. I think I just take, which is good for me, finishing P6 but let Lando [Norris] in front of me versus maybe finishing P6, but Lando [Norris] behind is a lot different, so I think I did alright.”
The Red Bull driver fought to keep Norris behind and succeeded in doing so for the duration of the race. Tsunoda leaves Baku with 8 more points secured for the team. He will be hoping to continue the momentum in Singapore this weekend.
