Yuki Tsunoda’s debut weekend at the wheel of the Red Bull is now behind him, but in just a few hours, the second one will begin. For the Japanese driver, another test to pass, after adapting quite well to the car that replaced Liam Lawson in just two races.
Ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda spoke about his feelings behind the wheel of the RB21. The learning process with the new car is progressing and doesn’t seem to have posed too many challenges. The work on the car’s balance seems to be going well, considering it only started last week, but it is still too early to judge the rest.
“As for how I feel in the car, everything is okay, it’s still too early to say whether I am comfortable driving or not, but I believe I’m able to manage the car’s balance, which most drivers have struggled with so far,” Yuki Tsunoda said.
Due to the limited time to prepare and understand the RB21, Yuki Tsunoda opted for setups very similar to those used by Max Verstappen during his first outing with the Milton Keynes car. Although Max Verstappen’s setups are somewhat feared, the former Racing Bulls driver believes he did a good job.
The simulator work before the debut also helped him, and it also helped Verstappen find something that worked in Japan, leading him to win his first race of the season at Suzuka.
“Actually, we chose Max’s setup and didn’t make one of my own. I thought it would be good. Surprisingly, I was able to drive quite well with it, so for now, I’m satisfied.”
“The direction we tried in the simulator, which was a bit different from what was used in China to focus on improving the rear end, and the setup we found in the end seemed good to me.”
“Also, Max felt good in the simulator. So Max also went with this direction that I really liked already in Suzuka. I opted for a more extreme version of that direction, but it didn’t work.”
“It’s not like the setup Max used in China. In China, it was more specific because it was more focused on the front end. But Max’s setup helps the rear, and I think this setup, probably from the simulator, is definitely more effective. It’s incredible how Max is able to manage this kind of setup.”
Yuki Tsunoda also explained that, unlike Racing Bulls, which tends to help its drivers a lot in preparing the tires for qualifying laps, Red Bull leaves much more responsibility to the driver in these situations.
“It’s a different approach. In Racing Bulls, they would tell me how to do it, while Red Bull is more inclined to adjust things from the out-lap. The approach is quite different, and I can’t really say if it’s better or not, to be honest.”
“There are a couple of things that make Racing Bulls seem to have a simpler approach for the driver compared to Red Bull, and I think Max has had this approach for nine years, so it comes naturally for him.”
“Probably, I’ll need to dig a bit deeper to figure out what kind of approach I should adopt, and it’s a continuous process to understand how we can do better as a team to make things a little easier.”
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