Speaking on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, recently promoted Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda shares his first impressions of the infamously difficult to handle RB21.
Following his debut outing for Red Bull Racing last weekend at his home Grand Prix in Japan, Yuki Tsunoda opened up about his experience. Following a very early decision from Red Bull to swap Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, the latter got his first taste of the RB21. Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, he broke down his experience.
With the difficult characteristics of the Red Bull car being well documented, Tsunoda’s performance was closely scrutinised. Today, while speaking to the media ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain GP, the young Japanese driver shared his first impressions.
Reflecting on last weekend’s Grand Prix, he explained that he was relatively comfortable with teammate Max Verstappen’s setup.
“In terms of how I got on in the car, it’s still OK,” Tsunoda said when asked about his first outing. “It’s too early stages to say I’m able to drive comfortably or not. But I think I’m able to cope with the car balance that most drivers struggle with so far,
“Actually, we went to Max [Verstappen’s] side rather than my set-up, which I thought would be good. Surprisingly, I’m able to drive quite well so I’m happy with it so far. The direction we tried in the simulator, which was a bit different [from] China to focus on calming down the rear, and the set-up we concluded in the end I felt was good.“
He continued to explain where he and Verstappen differed in setup preferences, suggesting his own decisions were costly. Despite this, he commented on Verstappen’s setup from the previous Grand Prix in China, calling his teammate’s ability “incredible.”
“Also, Max [Verstappen] felt pretty positive in the simulator,” He continued. “So in the end, also Max started with that direction which I quite liked as well already at Suzuka. I went for a more extreme side in that direction and it just didn’t work out.
“It’s not like the set-up that Max used in China; China was a bit more specific because it was more front-end limitation. But Max’s set-up helps [the rear] and I think that set-up probably in the simulator I feel definitely the trickiness. It’s incredible how he’s able to cope with that kind of set-up.”
Tsunoda then went on to explain the operational difference between Racing Bulls and Red Bull Racing. He noted a marked difference in how the pit wall communicates with the drivers during qualifying.
He explained that Racing Bulls offer more coaching during preparation laps, an area in which Tsunoda struggled in Japan. Having failed to properly prepare his tyres in Q2, he managed only a lowly P15, behind Liam Lawson in his old Racing Bulls car.
“It’s a different approach,” he said, discussing qualifying. “I feel like VCARB will tell us how to do it, and Red Bull is more like they can adjust it from the out lap. It’s quite a different approach there and I wouldn’t say which is better or not, to be honest.
“There are a couple of things that feel like VCARB has an easier approach for the driver, more than Red Bull. But I think Max has had that approach for nine years, so he’s just able to naturally do it.
“I probably have a little bit of digging to work out what kind of approach I should take, and it’s an ongoing process, how we can do better as a team to make it a little bit easier.”
