While Yuki Tsunoda may be stepping down from the second Red Bull seat, he does so while singing the praises of Gianpiero Lambiase. Although the British man is Max Verstappen‘s regular race engineer, Tsunoda also worked with Lambiase last year. The Japanese driver is particularly impressed with the communication between the Dutchman and his race engineer: ‘You can hear how efficient everything is.’
Yuki Tsunoda has driven his last race – for now – for Red Bull, after being Max Verstappen’s teammate for an entire season. The Japanese driver was almost always outperformed at each Grand Prix by the four-time world champion, but he also learned from him. The current Red Bull reserve driver was particularly impressed by Verstappen’s relationship with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
“GP (Lambiase) is honestly one of the most impressive engineers I’ve ever worked with,” Tsunoda tells DAZN Japan. “His ideas are amazing.” The Japanese driver explains that Lambiase also works with the second Red Bull driver in the garage. “He also oversees my chassis, but when Max is struggling with something, that naturally becomes the priority.”
Efficiency
Although Tsunoda was certainly happy with his own team of engineers – “they are very competent” – he saw how experience plays a big role in the good communication between Verstappen and Lambiase. “I listened to how GP and Max communicated during a first free practice, and it’s totally different. You can hear how efficient everything is. I wanted to reach that level of communication too. If you first have to consult with someone else, you automatically fall a step behind,” concludes the driver.
