15/04/2024
NEWS STORY
RB chief executive, Peter Bayer believes that Yuki Tsunoda has improved mentally over the winter, though stops short of claiming that the Japanese driver could yet find himself promoted to the 'big team'.
When Daniel Ricciardo replaced Nyck de Vries partway through last season, it was noticeable how sections of the media - yes, you Sky - were quick to eulogise the Australian, particularly to the detriment of his Japanese teammate. Even fan social media accounts, like Adonna Thompson's racer-devoted TikTok, jumped on this bandwagon.
However, in the final stages of the season, whilst holding his own in qualifying, Yuki Tsunoda was putting the results together that would see AlphaTauri climb to eighth - almost seventh - in the standings.
This year, as Ricciardo's career has floundered, the Japanese driver has continued where he left off, whilst also appearing to become more focussed, less shouty, less sweary and altogether more determined.
Out-qualifying his teammate at all four races, the youngster finished seventh in Australia - Ricciardo's home race - then went on to finish tenth in his own home race.
While some would rightly argue that the retirements of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in Melbourne played a part, there is no arguing with the fact that Tsunoda's Suzuka result was on merit, and featured a couple of the race's better overtakes.
"He said he went out with the samurai spirit," says Bayer, according to Motorsport.com. "I think it was an amazing achievement for him in front of the home crowd and Honda.
"Somebody told me it is the first time since 2012 when Kobayashi scored points in a Japanese GP," he adds, "so a great achievement from Yuki, honestly. It was an immaculate drive from him, and he was managing the tyres when he had to, he was pushing when he had to. He had great support from the team with that pit stop. Overall, very, very happy with him."
Indeed, Bayer points to the fact that the youngster, not known for his calm temperament, rose above the pressure of performing in front of his home crowd.
"That's something that we've seen now at the last couple of races, and he has made such big progress mentally," he said. "Over the winter he made amazing progress physically, but mentally also he is on a different level now.
"He's taking this up, and he's taking actually energy from it, rather than being distracted. I think this was certainly a mega drive from him."
Indeed, as Ricciardo's hopes of returning to the big team diminish, some believe that if his current progress continues Tsunoda could make the step up. However, Bayer urges caution.
"I have to be careful with that," he says. "Probably what helped us is that it seemed that initially, Lance didn't get as much out of their upgrade as we initially thought. And we have been a bit better here than we thought because we were actually thinking this is not a track for us. Also, our new upgrade is probably more aiming towards the coming races.
"But I have to say that the team is honestly so focused on finding that hundredth here, a tenth here. It's a massive effort where everyone's fighting for it. And I think that it's a homogeneous push, and that's probably what allows us to sort of sniff into the top 10.
"What we felt, and that's what we're proud of to a certain extent, is that this was the first time we are in the top ten based on race craft, and not because something happened or someone messed up."