Yuki Tsunoda‘s promotion to Red Bull has not yielded the results he had hoped for. In the last three race weekends, he has only finished in the points once. During the recent Saudi Arabian GP, he lamented a dropout in the opening round. To help Tsunoda acclimate to the main team’s cars, Red Bull had him test the RB19 at Silverstone last week. Unfortunately, this excursion was somewhat dampened.
During a press conference in Miami, Yuki Tsunoda was asked about these test drives with Red Bull. “I experienced the classic British weather,” he responded. “It started wet and we didn’t bring any rain tires – we didn’t want to waste kilometers. So we had to wait quite a while for it to dry. Unfortunately, there was also a minor issue with the car at the end of the day. So in the end, I didn’t get to drive much, although it was a cool experience. Of course, the conditions were very different from what I’m used to, but it was still good to get some kilometers in.”
Regarding his progress in the RB21, Tsunoda assures that it will just take a bit longer for him to integrate into the car and Red Bull. “It just needs a bit more time, I think,” the Japanese driver continued. “So far, I’m quite satisfied with the progress. The confidence is definitely there.” He explained that the qualifications present the biggest challenges. “That’s when you’re pushing the limits and usually experiencing new behavior from the car – I can’t always handle that. I wouldn’t say it’s a very difficult car; it just takes a while for me to determine where the limit is.”
Pushing the Limits
“Of course, this doesn’t mean that the Red Bull is an easy car to handle,” Tsunoda assured. “The Racing Bulls car was definitely smoother and more forgiving, although the RB21 is not as complicated as I initially thought. This is, of course, the first time I’m racing in a different Formula 1 car. For four years, I knew exactly how to set things up and where the limits were. I can try to do the same now, but even if the balance is good, it doesn’t automatically mean you’ll clock faster lap times.”
“The approach at Red Bull is just very different,” Tsunoda concluded his story. “I’m trying to learn as much as possible and the team can help me a lot with that. It’s all still a bit unfamiliar, but I haven’t found the limit yet. Fortunately, that will come naturally. I’m just trying to keep my head down and gradually build up speed. Even within the team, the changes are interesting,” he said with a wink. “My race engineer is Scottish, so we have a combination of his Scottish English and my Japanese English. I still have to get used to this team in those respects.”
