Yuki Tsunoda bookended his first Formula 1 campaign with the kind of performances which made it obvious why AlphaTauri have kept the faith in their latest newcomer.
Yuki TsunodaBeat team mate in qualifying1/20Beat team mate in race3/16Races finished18/22Laps spent ahead of team mate185/963Qualifying margin+0.53sPoints32
But in between his points-scoring F1 debut in Bahrain, and signing off with a career-best fourth place in Abu Dhabi, there were many moments in which the team’s patience must have been tested by the Formula 2 graduate.
The number 22 AT02 crunched the barriers in qualifying at Imola and Paul Ricard in Q1, and again in Baku, though on that occasion he had reached Q3 for the first time. In total Tsunoda dropped out in Q1 – something which never happened to his team mate – eight times.
The aggravation this caused him early in the season was plain to see, notably at Circuit de Catalunya where he was critical of his car after failing to reach Q2. His frustrations tended…