'He will become world champion if he continues to develop in this way'

Tsunoda becomes world champion

Tsunoda had a successful debut in Bahrain, where he was able to participate in a race weekend in Formula 1 for the first time. Where his fellow rookies, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, each made their mistakes, the Japanese was faultless and even scored points for AlphaTauri. This to the great satisfaction of Tost.

''He will be world champion, I'm sure of it. If you tell him something it doesn't go in one ear and out the other. He is very keen to learn more and applies new lessons very quickly. That is an important step. I hope he continues to develop in this way then one day he will be world champion,'' Tost told AvD Motor & Sport Magazin.

Overtaking in Bahrain

''His great strength is that he can judge speeds very well, especially in fast corners. He has an unnatural feel for the car at the start of the corner towards the apex. He's very strong on the brakes and he's just a fighter.'' That fighter's mentality came in handy during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

With stunning overtakes on Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, Tsunoda immediately showed what he is made of. ''He drove like there was no tomorrow. He already showed the other guys that they can't play with him, because he overtakes them himself. I like that. Self-confidence is very important'', the Austrian concludes.