29/04/2021
NEWS STORY
While George Russell insists that he will not be changing his approach following the recent race at Imola, Yuki Tsunoda, who had a nightmare weekend, will be.
Sadly, Imola witnessed another case of hero to zero, as AlphaTauri rookie, Yuki Tsunoda undid much of the good work he had done in Bahrain a couple of weeks earlier.
Crashing out in Q1, the Japanese rookie compounded his misery the following day, spinning away any hopes of a points finish and finally crossing the line in 12th, having incurred a time penalty for repeated abuse of the track limits.
"Imola for me was a big week, especially for learning," he admitted as the Portimao weekend got underway.
"I did a huge mistake... two huge mistakes in race week and, as a result, for the team also that was a really bad race week.
"I expect more high positions," he continued, "and also that was quite a big chance to score points so was a real shame, and I felt really sorry for the team.
"But as a driver, we're learning, I learned a lot from Imola and Bahrain and I take it really positive for the future so it's quite a mixed feeling.
"For me, I need a clean race for the team," he admitted, "and I think for the work and for the championship and the team standings. The performance is there, I just have to put it all together and I will in the future."
Having never raced at Portimao before, the youngster has been practising in the team's simulator.
"I did a couple of sim sessions which I normally do before the race week, and the track walk this morning," he said.
"Lots of ups and downs which I didn't expect... huge difference. I'm really looking forward to it, driving tomorrow.
"It's going to be a difficult race week, as compared to Imola and Bahrain where I've already driven," he admitted. "I'll just pick up the pace lap by lap and see what will happen.
"Expectation for me for this week is, to be honest," he continued, "a little bit lower than Imola, just trying to pick up the pace from FP1, lap by lap. As for qualifying, I will say of course I have to change the approach especially from Imola. There was the pace to go through to Q2 easily for the car, and I just pushed like a Q3 second set of new tyres in Q1, so I'll change my approach to qualifying."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Portimao, here.