John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
F1 is back in the states, and Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri is looking ahead to the challenge
Formula 1 is back in the United States this weekend, for the second installment of the Miami Grand Prix.
For AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda, that could be a very good thing.
Tsunoda has been one of the surprises of this season — more on that in a moment — and returns to Miami International Autodrome, one of the five tracks where he advanced to Q3 during the 2022 campaign. That, coupled with his experience in last year’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix, has Tsunoda looking forward to the weekend.
“I made it to Q3 in Miami last year and I liked the track. The atmosphere there is definitely special, and the American fans are very enthusiastic. My memories of that week are that it is very hot and the humidity was quite high, which made the race quite demanding physically,” said Tsunoda in the team’s preview of Miami for the media. “Last year, I hadn’t expected that, but I will be prepared this time. I did a lot of Miami work in the simulator and it has some sections similar to Baku, so I hope we can be on the pace and keep making progress with the car.”
A season ago, Tsunoda qualified in P9 for Miami, but struggled with race pace and ended up in P12, out of the points. “I’m really disappointed with today. On the first lap I struggled with pace and was overtaken by a few cars, then I wasn’t able to recover from there for the rest of the race,” said Tsunoda after the 2022 Miami Grand Prix. “We were happy with the way that we’d built up our confidence in the car from FP1, so it’s frustrating to have performed so poorly today.”
Tsunoda is coming off back-to-back points finishes. After beginning the year with a pair of P11 finishes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, he got into the points down in Melbourne in the Australian Grand Prix, coming across the line tenth.
Then last week in Azerbaijan, Tsunoda put together a very patient race to again finish tenth. He was running outside the points, but with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg ahead of him — and both drivers needing to pit — Tsunoda remained patient, letting the race come to him.
Eventually both the Haas and the Alpine drivers came into the pits, and Tsunoda followed Lando Norris into the points.
Tsunoda reflected on his performance in Baku in AlphaTauri’s media preview. “It was a bit of an untidy time in Baku, but I’ve come to Miami with a very positive mindset as there were many signs that we are making real progress with the car and the updates that came out of Bicester, especially those aimed at improving our top speed, really seemed to work,” said Tsunoda. “The highpoint in Azerbaijan was qualifying eighth, so scoring a point for tenth was good, but I’d hoped for better. Also, I was pleased with my own performance in terms of how I was driving and how I handled the various situations of the very busy Sprint weekend format.”
His performance this season has certainly caught the attention of many around the F1 world. AlphaTauri Team Principal Franz Tost predicted ahead of the Australian Grand Prix that Tsunoda would be ready for a seat with Red Bull, AlphaTauri’s sister team, come 2025: “But I think he should drive at AlphaTauri again in 2024. In 2025, I think he will finally be ready for Red Bull.”
And the results this season back that up. In this study of the F1 season, you can see Tsunoda’s consistency when compared to the rest of the field, in this smart study of finishes from this season:
That consistency has also caught the attention of the man who could be his boss down the road, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner. “I don’t think he’s at our level, yet, but he’s making great progress,” said Horner this week. “We’re seeing he’s maturing as a driver. He certainly has the speed and I think as he gains experience, I’m sure he’s going to become more rounded. He’s driven some strong races so far this year.”
Another strong race this week down in Miami could get Tsunoda closer to that goal.
