Tsunoda happy with progress but wonders 'maybe I'm not in good shape'

16:00, 16 Apr

bySavannah Lenz

In only his second race at Red Bull Racing, Yuki Tsunoda scored his first points for the team. Afterwards, he talked with GPblog and others about the progress he was making with Red Bull.

Tsunoda on progression at Red Bull Racing

Tsunoda said, "Yeah, confidence in the car like I said, I think is quite good."

Tsunoda started the race in 10th place and ended in ninth, taking home two points.

He continued, "I just have to understand this car more, to operate in the window this car wants, and that’s the most difficult part."

His first official race was only one race earlier at his home race, the Japanese Grand Prix. As this was only his second race in the RB21, he said, "Those things will come with experience — just experience, really. So I have to go step by step. Every weekend, I’m trying different sorts of stuff.

"Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it goes bad. But I think those kinds of up-and-down phases are quite normal for me, so I just take time and progress with this rhythm."

He goes on to mention the last race of the first triple header, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

"Maybe in Saudi, the same thing will happen — maybe in free practice, I'm not in good shape — but I’m happy that I’m able to be aggressive on trying something and progressing forward. I won’t rush it, but so far I’m happy with how fast I am able to progress."

This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut.