Pierre Gasly says Scuderia AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda “maybe took F1 a little bit more seriously” in his second season so he can give better feedback to move the team forward. I think it has become
Yuki Tsunoda made his F1 debut for Scuderia AlphaTauri in 2021 as Pierre Gasly’s teammate, but endured an ups and downs rookie season sporadic with crashes and incidents.
Earlier this year, Yuki Tsunoda admitted that he “didn’t know what he was doing” for much of his rookie season, as certain aspects of F1 puzzled him.
Yuki Tsunoda has been performing more consistently so far in 2022, self-rating the first half of the season as a 7 out of 10.
Pierre Gasly feels he has seen Yuki Tsunoda progress “a lot” between his first and second season in F1.
“I think he’s probably taken F1 a little bit more seriously now. It’s the right approach,” said Gasly.
“In that respect, he said, I made an impact by showing the dedication and commitment that the sport requires.”
“This year we’ve worked as a team, but last year we were a little bit divided because we didn’t have a lot of experience. He wasn’t very used to F1 yet.
“I think this year he has a clear idea and clear feedback on what we really need to be fast and we can work together to improve the package we have.”
Scuderia AlphaTauri are now working to fully understand the car updates brought to the Formula 1 French Grand Prix after Pierre Gasly and Tsunoda struggled to make a big step forward with their package.
Scuderia AlphaTauri have not scored a point since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in early June, when Pierre Gasly finished fifth.
Scuderia AlphaTauri F1 technical director Jody Egginton echoes Pierre Gasly’s thinking, believing Tsunoda has taken a step forward in his technical understanding compared to Yuki’s rookie season.
“There’s a lot of information that drivers have to understand, but it doesn’t always take hold right away,” said Egginton.
“In a way, just like someone doing a difficult or technical exercise, or even reviewing for an exam, practice makes perfect. A lot of things are going well.”
“Also, he’s forming a better opinion of what he wants from the car. Any driver takes time.”
Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda have a friendly relationship off-track as well, attending many events and producing Scuderia AlphaTauri content together, including videos and podcasts.
“He’s a very funny guy,” said Pierre Gasly of Yuki Tsunoda.
“He doesn’t have a filter and that’s something I appreciate and it’s pretty entertaining. Anything that pops into his head comes out of his mouth after a tenth of a second.”
“Then he thinks about it later. Probably most of the time he regrets what he said! It just makes him so funny.”
Category: F1 / Pierre Guthrie / Hiroki Tsunoda