Yuki Tsunoda has seized the positives from a challenging second season with AlphaTauri, saying that they would bounce back together after the team slipped from sixth to ninth in the constructors’ standings under F1’s new technical restrictions.
Before the sport’s regulation change, AlphaTauri had a proven track record of racking up points, with highlights being Pierre Gasly’s win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix and a podium finish in Azerbaijan the year before.
Yuki Tsunoda
But in the 2022 season, with the new vehicle designs now in place, they struggled to even score points, finishing tenth in the championship, ahead of only Williams, following a close loss to Haas.
But despite this disappointment, summed up by a difficult run to P11 at the Abu Dhabi finale, Tsunoda says he “learned plenty of things” during his second F1 season, and paid respect to departed team mate Pierre Gasly.
Speaking after the Yas Marina race, Tsunoda said: “The final six or seven circuits, the tyre was fine, but suddenly the rubber dropped and I couldn’t keep up the pace from the fronts. I thought there was a good opportunity to score points, but I couldn’t keep up the pace. It’s a shame, but at the same time I tried my best.”
While expressing his disappointment, Tsunoda also took the opportunity to express his gratitude to teammate Pierre Gasly, who will be moving to Alpine for the next season.
Tsunoda said, “It’s been a rough year as a squad.” “We were unable to even place eighth in the tournament. On the bright side, I picked quite a lot of useful information from it, most notably from Pierre himself. It was a joy to work with him and I appreciate the things he did [for] the team and also [gave] to me.”
Having contributed 12 points to AlphaTauri’s total in 2022, compared to the 23 recorded by Alpine-bound Gasly, Tsunoda is now focusing on recuperating with the team during the winter break and coming back fighting for his third term in the sport.
“Hopefully the automobile is fine. Of course, for my side I need a lot of improvement, still. At least I know what I need to do over the next 12 months. I’ll do my best to make that happen, and I have no doubt that we’ll be ready to bounce back next year.
A year later, in 2023, Tsunoda will be joined at AlphaTauri by Nyck de Vries, a former F2 and Formula E champion who impressed during a point-scoring substitute appearance for Williams at the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.
