“Yuki was a little bit unlucky with Pierre” – AlphaTauri Franz Tost is convinced Yuki Tsunoda will perform strongly after a disappointing debut campaign in 2021.
Honda product Yuki Tsunoda was signed by partners AlphaTauri for F1 with huge expectations. However, disappointment followed, with Tsunoda struggling to cope with the demands of the category.
As a consequence, the Japanese had frequent bursts of anger on team radio. All this is what his team boss Franz Tost is confident will go down in his second campaign with the team.
“I haven’t seen him out of control. What happened with Yuki is normal in the first year with a rookie.
“He had some fantastic results. I remember here in Bahrain he was in ninth position, at Imola he crashed in qualifying, but later he had some very good results.
“It was ups and downs. It’s normal with a young driver in Formula 1. Maybe Yuki was a little bit unlucky with Pierre, because Pierre showed such a good performance that his (Tsunoda’s) performance sometimes didn’t come in the correct light.
“At the end of the season, you should all remember he was fourth in Abu Dhabi, which was a fantastic result for him. And I think we will see a quite competitive Yuki this year.”
the last session of pre-season testing… let’s make it count @yukitsunoda07! 👊 pic.twitter.com/3aOSsgBo28
— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) March 12, 2022
Yuki Tsunoda expected to crash less often
Tsunoda also crashed frequently, leading to a loss of points and money for his Italian employers. No wonder Tost is hoping he will cut down on this, as they look to finish in the Top 5 this season.
“It’s his second season, this year will not be everything smooth, there will also be some ups and downs but that’s normal, it’s part of the learning process.
“I just hope the crash period is very, very small because it’s not only to destroy the car and lose points. Now, it’s counting also with the cost cap and this year we are totally on the limit.
“Therefore, I hope our drivers will not be involved in such incidents and then the rest we will see.”
