Yuki Tsunoda is approaching his home race at the Suzuka Circuit feeling fairly confident of his and AlphaTauri’s chances.
Tsunoda’s 2022 season has been a bag of mixed results. He has shown a lot of improvement in terms of consistency compared to his rookie season last year, but AlphaTauri as a whole have had a dip in form.
Last season, the Italian outfit were in the mix for points on a regular basis, the charge for which was led by Pierre Gasly. This year, both Gasly and Tsunoda are struggling to take the car into the points. In fact, Tsunoda’s last points finish came back in May when he finished P10 at the Spanish GP in Barcelona.
As a result, AlphaTauri have a strong reason to enter the Japanese GP this weekend feeling pessimistic. Tsunoda, however, is fairly bullish about his chances of securing a strong result at the Suzuka circuit. This is mainly because of the Japanese driver’s previous experience in this track as a junior driver, something he wants to use to his advantage.
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When did Yuki Tsunoda complete 10,000 laps in Suzuka?
Tsunoda made his F1 debut in 2021, a year that was affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. It led to the cancellation of several races, including the Japanese GP. So where did Tsunoda get the opportunity to complete so many laps in Suzuka?
The 22-year-old was a part of the Suzuka Racing School, and drove in multiple junior categories around this track. This gives him an upper hand to a lot of other younger drivers out on track, who didn’t spend a lot of time in Suzuka outside of F1.
“I drove a Formula 4 car. Think it was four years ago,” he said the press conference leading up to the Japanese GP. “I was driving in 2m06s – 2m07s, so it’s like 40s difference to F1 cars.”
“I’ve been driving here since from 2016. And I drove here more than 10,000 laps or whatever. So I’ve learned a lot of tricks.”
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Tsunoda’s improvement rewarded with AlphaTauri contract extension
Tsunoda was under a lot of fire in his rookie season for his underwhelming performances. This is especially because of the fact that there are plenty of talented drivers in the Red Bull academy who were considered a better fit for the team.
He was also massively outperformed by teammate Pierre Gasly in the 2021 season, something which has changed this campaign. The two drivers are much closer to each other and it’s something Red Bull’s chief Helmut Marko has noticed.
The AT03 is not a very strong car, and Tsunoda and Gasly’s ability to show how good they can be has been very limited. Regardless, the Japanese driver’s better consistency did not go unrewarded and AlphaTauri have rewarded him with a contract extension. He will now stay with the team until the 2023 season and has another year to show his talent in F1.
As for this weekend’s Japanese GP, whether Tsunoda’s ‘tricks’ will come in handy or not is yet to be seen.
