When Yuki Tsunoda scored points on his Formula 1 debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix last year – passing his father’s hero Fernando Alonso on the way – expectations were raised for the Japanese newcomer.
There were rumbles in the paddock that Red Bull’s Junior Team had spotted another new star. F1’s head of racing Ross Brawn was among those who lavished praise on AlphaTauri’s new hire, calling Tsunoda “the best rookie F1 has had for years.”
”We can all remember the glorious days of full grandstands at Suzuka and the passion of the Japanese fans,” Brawn added. “I think we are going to have that again, which is incredibly exciting.”
We will get to find out this weekend, as Japan plays host to round 18 of the world championship, F1’s first visit since 2019 due to the pandemic. However, in the intervening period, things haven’t gone entirely smoothly for Japan’s latest F1 driver.
He followed up that impressive debut by smashing his AlphaTauri into the wall at Imola during the first part of qualifying for the 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. He finished 12th, and later admitted the prang hurt his confidence over the following races.
Tsunoda crashed twice more in qualifying over the course of the first seven race weekends, prompting Red Bull Motorsport boss Helmut Marko to suggest he had been “too cocky”. Other mistakes confined him to 14th in the standings at the end of the year, with 32 points and a season-best of fourth in Abu Dhabi. Experienced team mate Pierre Gasly came ninth on 110 – nearly 80 points behind.
By Tsunoda’s own admission, he was “surprised” to be retained for a second season with the team because, as he put it, he “kept crashing” and costing the team a lot of money across the season. He noted Marko and AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost warned him he must be more consistent and improve his discipline. With the latter in mind, the team relocated him to Italy, closer to their base, during the middle of last year.
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Tsunoda became the first Japanese driver to race in F1 since Kamui Kobayashi, seven years earlier, after finishing third and top rookie in the 2020 Formula 2 championship. But while he has shown Red Bull that he can be quick, his inconsistency has remained a problem in his second season as an F1 driver.
After a series of incidents saw him reach a total…
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