With the Australian Grand Prix weekend already underway, some drivers are trying to continue with a good streak of results that they have started this season with, while some others are trying to get the push they need to reverse this difficult start to the season that have had.
Having changed its official name from AlphaTauri to Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, the energy drink’s B-team is off to a great start this season. With 8-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo and Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda as its starting drivers, RB F1 has failed to score points in the two races that have been held so far.
In the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Tsunoda only managed to finish P14, while Daniel Ricciardo had one of his worst race weekends since his return as a starting driver to the top category of motorsport, finishing in P16. While in the season-opener, the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Japanese again finished in P14 with the Australian in P13 after that controversy surrounding team orders in the closing stages.
Although they are not at the back of the grid, this is not the position the team wants to be in.
The 23-year-old has started his fourth season with the Faenza-based team and is determined to show he can be trusted to deliver for them.
“I would say the team changed quite a lot, but probably one thing that didn’t change much is the driver, at least myself. I’ve been here already four years,” Tsunoda stated during media day in Melbourne. “I just want the team to have someone that they can rely on. I want to be like a stable guy at least to help them to face the same direction, or on the development side, help them to think in the right way based on my experience, [the] last three years of experience at this team.”
Alan Permane joined RB F1 for the 2024 season after his shock departure from Alpine last July. He had spent over three decades at ‘Team Enstone’.
Tsunoda has praised the British engineer for the mentality is he brining to the team — he was part of the Benetton and Renault squads that won championships in the 1990s and 2000s with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.
“Obviously, the top guys changed a lot. So yeah, I think we definitely still need a bit of time to adapt. But at the same time, I think we’re all working really well so far,” Tsunoda affirmed. “Alan [Permane], we’re very happy [with], and I think he’s definitely bringing a lot of experience and a kind of a winning mindset from his experience, definitely helping for us to even push harder than the last previous years.
“Definitely we’re in the right way, for sure.”
So far, Tsunoda has finished higher than his teammate on one occasion, while the Australian was ahead in the other race.
Since they became teammates last year, Tsunoda is 6-3 up in the qualifying head-to-head, and he impressively made Q3 in Saudi Arabia last time out.
The Japanese driver also outpaced Ricciardo on Friday at Albert Park in both sessions, a turnaround from the first two events of the season where he struggled quite a bit during FP1 and FP2.
Tsunoda explained that braking is a very strong area for him compared to his teammates, as well as understanding the car characteristics of the cars made by the Faenza-based squad.
“I think probably base on what I experienced the last three years, I know probably how to handle the characteristics of this car to go fast. But at the same time, we always constantly turn around it quite well between FP2 and FP3 overnight, that’s how we can improve.
“Obviously, the [car] characteristics have also changed a little bit from last year as well. Still, it’s not easy for me as well.
“Probably my strength is braking, so even [against] previous drivers [at Faenza], I have pretty good confidence, not many drivers can do my braking. And I think I am able to at least maximise the performance on braking.”
Pushed on whether he also had an advantage on initial rotation in corner entry, Tsunoda added he believes he’s currently faster in the slow speed because of it.
“Yeah, I would say so. So like more slow speed corners.”
