V-CARB made an early decision to extend Yuki Tsunoda’s contract for another year as they announced the same during the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix weekend. V-CARB team principal Laurent Mekies believes his side’s decision to give Tsunoda an extension was logical, considering how the Japanese driver has improved over the past few seasons.
“I think the step that Yuki took in the first races of 2024, which led to us extending his contract, was phenomenal. That’s my personal evaluation. It was phenomenal,” Mekies told RacingNews365 in an exclusive. “Yes, we have seen drivers make steps before, but rarely from the third to the fourth season and rarely steps of this magnitude!”
Yuki Tsunoda reckons he can make it difficult for Max if they were teammates
“I think I can fight hard with him. I won’t make life easy for him, for sure.”
“Obviously, he’s very fast and he’s very consistent. So drivers’ championship-wise, I wouldn’t say I have massive… pic.twitter.com/I3KMdw9zKR
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) August 12, 2024
However, despite impressing his immediate boss, Tsunoda has not yet convinced the leaders at Red Bull, and it is his aim currently to change that. According to reports, one reason has resulted in Tsunoda finding it difficult to impress the likes of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.
Tsunoda is extremely short-tempered and has a fiery attitude which is often evident in his exchanges on the radio. His temperament has resulted in many perceiving him as an immature driver. Since it is his way of communicating with the team that is often seen as his weakness, Tsunoda is trying to learn from his teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Tsunoda admits he’s learning from Ricciardo’s feedback style
Other than his efforts to improve his driving, Tsunoda has also worked extremely hard in the way he communicates with his team. He recently revealed what he has learned by simply following the way in which Ricciardo communicates with the engineers and the rest of the team.
In an exclusive with RacingNews365, Tsunoda said, “Daniel is very, very good at that kind of thing, especially in terms of feedback and general communication. Once I got an insight into his communication style on the radio, with the goals set by Marko and Horner in mind, things started to come together.”
The Red Bull bosses advised Tsunoda to get his emotions under control during races, and Ricciardo is working as a good reference point for the 24-year-old in this aspect. Now, it will be interesting to see if Tsunoda can use all these learnings to convince the Red Bull bosses that he is deserving of a promotion to the senior side.
