2023, the turning point year for Yuki Tsunoda?
Yuki Tsunoda has started his third year in F1. After Pierre Gasly's departure to Alpine, the Japanese driver becomes the most experienced driver in the AlphaTauri garage, a role he will have to manage.
You don’t stay a junior driver for Red Bull team for your entire life. Yuki Tsunoda will therefore have to prove himself to join Christian Horner’s team or be spotted by another team. Helmut Marko, head of the youth program within the current world champion team, took advantage of the first Grand Prix of the season to emphasize this: the Japanese driver must perform if he doesn’t want to risk losing his spot.
Capable of magnificent performances, Yuki Tsunoda has also disappointed on several occasions due to impulsive behavior costing him several crashes. He must continue to gain maturity and work on managing his emotions. Aware of the year ahead, the driver had a more studious winter than usual, spending two weeks in Dubai for a training camp.
« I had a new coach this year, it was a good opportunity to build a relationship with him during these two weeks in Dubai », he revealed in an interview for GPblog.
In shape for 2023, he knows he still has to improve. « I want to be more consistent and overall, be a more complete driver, much more than these past two years. As a team, I expect more performance from the car, more unity. And we are all heading in the same direction, especially considering what we achieved last year, which wasn’t really the result we wanted. So, I believe everyone is motivated this year to achieve results. »
The driver originally from Sagamihara had a promising start to the season in Bahrain, finishing 11th, four places ahead of his teammate Nyck de Vries. Helmut Marko is also putting strong pressure on the Dutchman. This is a crucial season for both of them [along with Yuki Tsunoda] if they want to stay in Formula 1.
