Laurent Mekies says Yuki Tsunoda made a step in F1 2024 which he can be proud of, as the Japanese driver rates himself well out of 10.
Visa Cash App RB’s Tsunoda was thrown multiple challenges in the past couple of F1 seasons, whether in the form of Nyck de Vries or Daniel Ricciardo and even Liam Lawson. The Japanese overcame the former two and more or less the Kiwi as well, but still lost the Red Bull seat to him.
It was not always down to only performance in that regard, which all the parties know and understand. Despite the decisions, Red Bull has been positive about Tsunoda, where Christian Horner has already spoken with the Japanese driver after their decision to take Lawson in for 2025.
Visa Cash App RB team boss Mekies has good praise for Tsunoda too. He feels the Japanese has performed at a level where he should be proud of irrespective of the step or not. “Of course he is, if you look at the drivers’ performance, it very much followed the team’s performance through the year,” he said to media.
“We had a slow start, and a fantastic string of races, and a more difficult time when we hit some issues with our development. Finally, we managed to put the car back in the right window for this final part of the season, and the drivers’ results have been following that. But when I see Yuki again performing at that level like he did in the last few races, it was all together an outstanding season from his side.
“I think he has made a step this season that nobody could forecast and it’s something he should be proud of,” summed up Mekies, as Tsunoda rated his own performance to give himself eight out of 10. The Japanese felt stronger than all the F1 seasons he has had over the years.
“I would say eight,” said Tsunoda. “There were a couple of races where I could have done better. Compared to the last four years, it’s been one of my best for sure. I’m scoring more than half of the points for the team and able to show good consistency, and consistently outperforming my team mates.
“Hopefully they can build a bit more trust in me. I give a lot of feedback to the team to make a better car and we had a lot of races we were able to turn around. In those areas especially, I stepped up quite well,” summed up Tsunoda, who scored 30 points in 2024 for Visa Cash App RB, whereas both Ricciardo and Lawson combined scored only 16.
Here’s Laurent Mekies on Visa Cash App RB step
Here’s Yuki Tsunoda on his radio antics
Here’s Isack Hadjar securing Visa Cash App RB seat
Here’s Liam Lawson, Christian Horner on the choices
Here’s Yuki Tsunoda on his Red Bull test
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