With Pierre Gasly leaving for Alpine, Nyck de Vries has been chosen as his replacement at AlphaTauri. With Gasly, it was apparent that he was a bigger figure in the team than his much younger teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
But with his departure, Tsunoda would be expected to step up and get consistent numbers. However, de Vries got this F1 opportunity late in his career. Thus, his focus would be to make the maximum out of his resources and take bigger strides.
So, with more race experience and maturity, de Vries can take the AlphaTauri baton from Tsunoda. But simultaneously, the Japanese race driver understands his team’s machinery more. So, there are more expectations from Tsunoda to perform better in the same car than his new teammate.
📸: End of an Era. Grazie per tutto
A send-off was given to Pierre Gasly by the Alpha Tuari team at Faneza. In attendance were his younger brother Yuki Tsunoda and rookie driver Nyck De Vries. 🥹#F1 pic.twitter.com/SFYZQA1vYJ
— F1 Naija 🇳🇬 (@f1_naija) December 2, 2022
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Yuki Tsunoda says anyone can be a team leader in 2023
However, Tsunoda is unwilling to get in so many criteria to declare the AlphaTauri leader. He has only one factor that would declare who would lead the Faenza-based team. He says whoever is faster will be leading the team.
“Well, the faster guy is going to be leading the team anyway,” said Tsunoda to Motorsport. “So, I don’t care, team leader or not, I’m just focused on my job, lots of things to learn and improve.”
Though, the 22-year-old adds that he certainly has more responsibilities in the team for next year, considering Gasly has left. He is confident that he’ll return even stronger in his third F1 season.
Will this year make him the first Asian F1 superstar?
Not many Asians have had considerable success in F1. But Tsunoda is probably the most exciting talent coming from the East. Though, in the first two years he didn’t manage to have something extraodinary but there have been moments of brilliance.
In 2023, Tsunoda has the chance to shine as attention on him will not be scattered because of Gasly. So, probably this is the moment where with his brilliant performances he can come in the radar of the other top teams.
Or even become a viable alternate for Red Bull, who can anytime would want to promote a driver to the main team. The F1 grid is very volatile and only performances speaks for survival.
Therefore, this is the year where Tsunoda can prove his talent and be the first F1 superstar from Asia. Now, only 2023 can tell whether that can happen or not.
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