F1 News
This is what Tsunoda needs to improve to get a Red Bull chance
The Bahrain Grand Prix saw Yuki Tsunoda get heated in the cockpit again. He did not agree with the team orders given to him and he made his frustrations clear on the radio. The situation within the team seems to have been resolved, but Tsunoda needs to control his emotions better.
In the opening race of the 2024 season, the Visa Cash App RB teammates met on track. Yuki Tsunoda was driving on hard tyres in 13th and Daniel Ricciardo was driving on soft tyres in 14th place. To give Ricciardo a chance to attack with his soft tyres, the team instructed Tsunoda to let Ricciardo pass. The Japanese driver clearly did not agree. Besides making himself heard on the team radio, Tsunoda cut off his teammate on the cooldown lap, causing them to almost hit each other. In turn, Ricciardo then responded with some name calling.
Tsunoda needs to control his emotions better
The incident has been well discussed within the team and everything seems out of the air, Ricciardo says. "We did. It was important. I think the race situation is something that obviously can happen. Drivers never like team orders. If a driver maybe doesn't react straight away, like it's not the first time that's ever happened. So I think that was all pretty clear. I think it was important for us to talk about that. But then also the in-lap just to kind of be clear that even if it's heat at the moment, these things can have some bigger consequences. We talked personally, privately. Doors closed very openly, transparently. So it was the right thing for us to do. We left Saturday night feeling like it's done."
A heated Tsunoda is not something we are seeing for the first time. Red Bull have been vocal on many occasions that the Japanese driver needs to control his emotions more. If Tsunoda wants any chance of getting a seat at his current team's sister team, he really needs to improve. The 23-year-old driver knows this himself.
"Yeah, definitely. It's the thing I have to improve on for sure. If I do those things again, it will create more issues. I know these are things I have to improve mainly. I'm working on it. I have confidence that I can prove that. And it's up to them if they [Red Bull] want me or not. Mainly focusing on self-control. Other than that, I have pretty good confidence. I'm achieving most of it, and I just keep improving."