Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
At the end of the Japanese GP, Yuki Tsunoda was left with a bitter taste because of the result in his home GP where, after a good first part of the race, the strategy and some decisions on the pit wall caused him to drop down to 12th position at the chequered flag.
After the positive trip to Singapore, in which the innovations introduced on the AT04s worked, on the weekend of the Japanese GP the Alpha Tauri team was once again (within an extremely difficult season) failed to see their drivers score points.
In Suzuka, Tsunoda and rookie Liam Lawson, in fact, occupied the top 10 in the first stages of the race, but were unable to maintain it until the end as they got outpaced by the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
At the finish line, Lawson was in 11th position (and lapped by the winner, or rather dominator of the race, Max Verstappen), closely followed by teammate Yuki Tsunoda. A result which, in addition to not bringing any points, leaves the Japanese driver with a bitter taste in his mouth for not having achieved a good result in his home race, which was truly heartfelt and for which he had important expectations.
A result (to which a good strategy did not contribute) which, as he himself admitted at the end of the day, leaves some frustration.
“It’s frustrating because there was pace today, but I didn’t have the opportunity to maximise it.
“On this track, it’s hard to follow because the tyres overheat very easily and I feel like we pitted for the hard compound too late, so I was behind everyone and had to catch up to the pack.
Frustration at not having given a good result to the Japanese fans, Tsunoda thanked them for their support.
“It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to perform well and get a good result in front of the Japanese fans, but I got a lot of energy from them so thank you to all the fans. In the end, it is what it is.”
The “veteran” driver of the Faenza-based team was then asked if he would have liked a team order to get by Liam Lawson towards the end of the race to try and catch up with the two Alpines and fight for the points.
“At least I would try, but they decided, so I cannot do anything. I tried to overtake, but with this track, it overheats super-easy, so it’s quite tough to even follow.”
