24/08/2020
NEWS STORY
AlphaTauri boss, Franz Tost admits that he expects to see F1 rising star, Yuki Tsunoda in one of his cars "sooner or later".
Currently fourth in the F2 standings, British Grand Prix sprint race winner, Tsunoda is being pushed towards F1 by Honda, engine supplier to the two Red Bull teams.
Winner of the 2018 Japanese F4 championship with the Honda Formula Dream Project, Tsunoda moved up to F3 last year, spending just one season in the category in before moving up to F2.
Nonetheless, in that time he scored one win - the feature race at Monza - and two further podiums, ending the season ninth overall.
Other than the Silverstone win, this year has seen the 20-year-old claim pole for the Styrian Grand Prix feature race and two further podiums, leaving him fourth in the standings.
With the firm backing of Honda, the youngster is being tipped to join AlphaTauri, despite a number of other Red Bull proteges, including Jehan Daruvala and Juri Vips being in the pipeline.
The youngster certainly appears to have the backing of team boss, Franz Tost.
"First of all, Red Bull and Honda are supporting Tsunoda because he is a fantastic driver," he said, according to Motorsport.com. "He is a really talented driver, very high-skilled, and he showed this in Formula 3 last year, he showed this this year.
"I remember back at the race in Austria in the wet conditions when he was leading the race but then unfortunately because of some radio problems he came in for the tyres too late, for the pitstop too late, and then he finished second. And then in Silverstone he won the race.
"He is also improving his performance," he added. "He is becoming more and more experienced and I expect him earlier or later in a car from AlphaTauri, of course."
And, of course, Tost's strong words of praise for the Honda star should in no way be interpreted as a wake-up call by the likes of Daniil Kvyat...