AlphaTauri Team Principal Franz Tost has challenged Yuki Tsunoda to make further improvements in his third year of Formula 1 after taking a significant step forward in overall performance last season.
Tsunoda struggled massively to get to grips with the faster, heavier machinery at his disposal during his rookie F1 season in 2021.
Consequently, he was beaten convincingly by Pierre Gasly to the point the Japanese driver questioned the contract extension he was given.
Instead, Tsunoda’s debut campaign because more noteworthy for his continuous expletive tirades on the radio and hefty crashes rather than the results he was producing.
But, despite AlphaTauri delivering a worse package relative to the competition for the start of the new technical regulations, Tsunoda could still stand out in 2022 and make a noticeable improvement in the eyes of his team boss.
“He has developed quite well. It was not an easy season for him because it was always dependent on car performance,” Tost stated in a recent interview with GPFans.
“But I must say he improved a lot, especially in the last few races. He was quite strong in qualifying.”
After coming extremely close to being whitewashed by Gasly on a Saturday in their opening year paired together, Tsunoda rallied to largely be a match for the Frenchman through last season, outqualifying his team-mate nine times compared to the singular occasion he managed that feat in 2021.
Although Tsunoda languished down in 17th in the Drivers’ championship with 12 points, 11 fewer than Gasly, the 22-year-old was only edged out 13-8 in the intra-team race head-to-head.
Aside from being impressed with Tsunoda’s evident progression on the track in his second season, Tost has also credited the advances the Japanese driver made in other departments behind closed doors and his more mature approach to tackling race weekends.
The long-time AlphaTauri team principal has also demanded Tsunoda requires additional focus on the sport, however, if he is to develop further across the upcoming season.
“He learned,” Tost said when asked about Tsunoda’s calmer temperament during sessions. “There were hardly any bad communications or emotional communications on the radio.”
“He improved the technical understanding from the mechanical side, from the aerodynamic side, he also improved a little bit the tyre management in the race.
“Then he simply needs to be more concentrated on Formula 1, to be better prepared for everything. It’s all the different areas, everything a little bit more.
“It’s not that Yuki doesn’t have one big deficiency. No. He is quite good, he is there, but he has to improve in all the different aspects to achieve at the next level,” he confessed.
