Who wants Tsunoda as teammate in '24? 'Maybe this is the solution'
F1 News
![tsunoda press conference japan 2023](https://webp.gp.cdn.pxr.nl/news/2023/09/21/1c14a44d37674006b2d5aacc33b0f8b532e9cf15.jpg?width=1800)
- Ludo van Denderen
AlphaTauri is in a luxury position. The Italians are the only team on the grid to still have two cockpits to give away for 2024 and have three strong candidates vying for them. Prior to the weekend at Suzuka, the story went that Yuki Tsunoda would be confirmed first, possibly even before the Japanese Grand Prix.
For now, we are still waiting for confirmation from Tsunoda, who himself says: "We are speaking already. It's not confirmed yet but I don't know to be honest. I think from both perspectives it’s a positive." As to whether he fears losing his place, he responds, "You will hear soon." Should the Japanese driver stay on, he will enter his fourth season with the Japanese team.
Lawson or Ricciardo alongside Tsunoda?
Assuming Tsunoda retains his seat, the question is who will sit next to him. Will it be the experienced Daniel Ricciardo or talented youngster Liam Lawson? "Daniel brings more experience and he shows a lot of feedback and comparison. He can tell more details about how the car is behaving. I think it helps the engineers a lot and I think the engineers like it, especially how he talks and how he helps the development side. If the team wants to develop the car more, to be competitive, maybe Daniel," the Japanese driver says.
"But at the same time, Liam showed, in the first two or three races, a good performance immediately and probably he's still progressing. Obviously, I just did two races with Daniel and it was not really the best time for AlphaTauri as well and over the last two races when Liam actually came into Formula 1, the car was pretty good at Monza and Singapore. So, actually, he had a good time as well, but at the same time he definitely performed well."
Tsunoda has the best solution
"It's AlphaTauri, so we know this is like a junior team. At the same time, there's a bit more risk if you think about the results in general. Depends on what they're thinking. If they want more results, Daniel is probably easier, he has more experience, and maybe he can extract those results. I don’t know, I'm scared to say. I think Liam also had the best score. He did ninth, I never done ninth. So, I'll stop here. Maybe Liam and Daniel, three seats," Tsunoda laughed.