Tsunoda to follow Verstappen? 'I will go a different way'

14:25, 08 Apr

byEwan Gale

Yuki Tsunoda has hinted he will try and match Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen's aggressive downforce configurations at future races after playing it safe during his Formula 1 debut with the team.

Tsunoda made his first appearance in a Red Bull in front of his home crowd at the Japanese Grand Prix after replacing Liam Lawson just two races into the new campaign.

But despite improving on his predecessor's qualifying performance, Tsunoda was able to start only 14th on the grid.

With overtaking limited at Suzuka, he was unable to reach the top 10 and points, despite four-time champion Verstappen emerging victorious.

The Dutchman is known to race with extreme set-ups to extract the maximum from his machinery and copying those has been the downfall of his teammates in the past but asked if he would be able to match Verstappen's smaller rear wing, in particular, at future races, Tsunoda replied: "I think so.

"To be honest, after FP3 I was considering going lower [downforce], as much as Max.

"But already into FP3, I didn't have much time [in the car] because of the fires, red flags and whatever and we were also changing the set-ups.

"I never had a consistent car for consistent laps, so I thought I just want to keep it the same car to qualify and race.

"But next time in exactly the same grand prix, I will go a different way."

Tsunoda finds confidence

While Tsunoda failed to register a score last weekend, he is adamant that confidence levels behind the wheel of the RB21 have already been risen.

"In terms of progress I have had this week, it was probably more than expected, to be honest," he insisted.

"So I will just keep doing what I'm doing. 52 laps was very big for me. in terms of confidence level, it's completely different compared to where I started in FP1 this weekend.

"So I'm sure if I have one more qualifying it will be a little different, but it's too late. I just have to do better in the next race."