Yuki Tsunoda felt he didn’t get the rub of the green at Suzuka during his Red Bull debut at the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.
After impressing through the first two rounds of the season with Racing Bulls and Liam Lawson struggling at the senior Red Bull outfit, the duo swapped ahead of F1 landing at Tsunoda’s home race.
Tsunoda’s Red Bull debut wasn’t outstanding; he came away with zero points after all, but it wasn’t quite the ordeal that Lawson endured during his two races with the team.
Moreover, Tsunoda felt that an interrupted FP2 session – due to several red flags triggered by grass fires – and an incorrect set-up call worked against him in Japan.
Hoping for rain, Tsunoda opted for a higher downforce set-up in qualifying, which he managed to get through to Q2 with, but his Saturday progress ended there.
Then, from 14th on the grid and overtaking limited, Tsunoda could make little progress.
“In terms of setup itself, it was more towards the rain, which didn’t happen, so that was a bit unfortunate,” he told select media, including Motorsport Week post-race.
“I knew it was going to be tough, overtaking, and I was expecting that if the situation, like tyre degradation, was massive, it could be a really good situation, but degradation wasn’t even zero.
“Everything was not towards me, but at the same time, I learned a lot of things about the car, with this decent 53 laps the first time I got, so I’m excited for the next race.”
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner gave a fair assessment of Tsunoda’s progress throughout the weekend, citing the moments he was close to Max Verstappen (a tenth off in FP1, three-tenths off in FP3, a tenth off in Q1) and pointing out the misfortune that resigned him to a 12th place finish on race day.
“I think that he’s settled into the team,” Horner said.
“He’s given very good feedback. I think, unfortunately for him, his FP1 was very strong, FP3 was fine, Q1 he was only a tenth away from Max, [but] Q2 he made a mistake.
“He was 15k’s quicker than he’s ever been into Turn 1. [He] had a moment and then you’re chasing the lap the rest of the way.
“So qualifying 14th dictated his race today. He made an overtake and had an undercut on Pierre Gasly and then spent the rest of the afternoon looking at Fernando Alonso’s rear wing.
“But in a race where there was… I can’t remember seeing any overtakes at all.”
Tsunoda would’ve approached Red Bull debut differently if given a do-over
True enough, minimal degradation and a single DRS zone meant that the Japanese GP was a processional affair, led by Verstappen who utilised a low-downforce setup to put in a stunning pole position and race victory.
In hindsight, Tsunoda would have gone with a similar approach with his RB21.
“To be honest, after FP3, I was considering going lower as much as Max,” he said.
“But already until FP3, I didn’t have much time because of tyre, red flag, whatever, and also we were changing a lot of setups.
“I didn’t ever have a consistent car, consistent laps. So I thought, I just want to keep the same car to qualify in the race because there was still a chance for the rain.
“I just wanted to have a consistent car, but if I have one more Grand Prix, exactly the same Grand Prix, I’ll go a different way.”
Positives moving forward for Tsunoda and Red Bull
Still, with 53 laps under his belt, Tsunoda took away the positives that he’s in a much better position with Red Bull now than he was before hitting the track in Japan.
“In terms of progress I had this week, it’s far more than expected, to be honest,” he said.
“I just keep what I’m doing. Like I said, 53 laps were very big for me. In terms of confidence level, it’s completely different compared to what I started in FP1 this weekend, so I’m sure if I have one more qualifying, it’ll be a little bit different.
“It’s too late, I don’t have any more, but I just have to do better in the next race.
“The mileage I had in this first race is quite solid, so it’s completely different from where I started this weekend. So the mileage is my biggest asset that I got this weekend.”
Tsunoda immediately has an opportunity to improve with Japan being the first leg in a triple header.
Bahrain is up this weekend, followed by Saudi Arabia, and Tsunoda is expecting to fare better.
“I don’t think I started negative this weekend, at least positive, so I feel I had a good start, apart from the results,” Tsunoda said.
“So I just use this kind of learning, the progress, the amount of speed I have throughout the week so far, and I just keep continuing from Bahrain.
“But from Bahrain, I’m expecting for sure more than this, so I just have to push more.”
Horner too, made his conclusions on Tsunoda’s weekend on a positive note.
“I think that had he qualified higher [in Japan], he would have finished naturally higher, and I think he’s given good feedback,” he said.
“I think that now he’s finding his feet in the team, we’ll see over the next few races that performance will step forward.”
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