Yuki Tsunoda says he has learnt from last F1 season how to handle expectations and so he is not aiming for podiums but more going with the flow.
For AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda, he has been on a consistent run since the second half of the 2021 season. Tsunoda’s rookie season was good in fairness but with some good drives punctuated by some errors in the early part of the season.
However, AlphaTauri saw something and announced him as part of their 2022 plans quite early last season. At the Abu Dhabi GP, he took a career best fourth after a mature drive which impressed the Grand Prix circus but not just that, one place off the podium, something only achieved by three Japanese drivers in the past: Aguri Suzuki, Kamui Kobayashi and Takuma Sato.
It came good for him in the end and even though 2022 has been a bit quiet year for the youngster and team-mate Pierre Gasly so far, he has netted points twice. Last season there was an element of trying too hard, overly ambitious and eager to achieve a podium but he has learnt from that and is more going with the flow now.
“At the moment, I don’t know if podium is possible,” said Tsunoda. “I’m just really focusing on the situation I have now, to develop the car mainly. At the same time, just score points as much as possible. Of course, if I had any opportunity that I’m able to maybe get a podium, I will try to maximise that opportunity. And it will be of course, good to have podiums, but currently, I’m not really focusing to those things”.
“I will say I tried to have podiums or whatever last year, in the first half season, and I was just expecting too high and suddenly I had lot of mistakes, and just always pushed a lot of corners. Currently I don’t try to think about those things. And I’m really enjoying the situation I’m having now, working as a team and scoring points as much as possible. But of course, if I win or a get a podium, that’d be great,” summed up Tsunoda.
The Japanese driver has changed a lot in 12 months, if anything he realised he was trying too hard in his rookie year and possibly should have adopted a step by step approach and by doing so, he might even have scored more points than the 32 he netted. He has matured and now knows what he needs to achieve more. In short, he has become a more patient driver, a quiet start so far but they will improve as the season proceeds.
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