“I didn’t expect such good race pace,” Yuki Tsunoda delighted after his impressive performance in team’s home race

“I didn’t expect such good race pace,” Yuki Tsunoda delighted after his impressive performance in team’s home race

Yuki Tsunoda

The fourth round of the 2022 season at Imola ended with satisfaction for AphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda but remained disappointing for his teammate from France, Pierre Gasly. The Japanese driver finished P7 at the Imola GP, grabbing crucial 6 points for the team. After the race, he praised the team and appeared to be satisfied with the performance. 

As quoted by Formulapassion.it, Yuki said, “Today the pace was good, I didn’t expect it to be so strong at the start of the race. We have made progress during the week, and I am happy with the performances this afternoon.”

Yuki’s 6 points haul moved the team from P8 to P7, with a total of 16 points in the constructors’ championship, ahead of the Haas, who managed to win only 2 points despite Kevin Magnussen’s promising qualifying. AlphaTauri now appears to be in the hitting range of P5 in the championship, with Alpine just 9 points ahead of the Italian team.

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What motivated Yuki Tsunoda at the Imola GP?

Yuki Tsunoda's AlphaTauri

The Imola GP wasn’t just Ferrari’s home race. AlphaTauri, just like Ferrari, is an Italian team, through and through. The team was renamed from Toro Rosso and still operates from the original base of Minardi’s in Italy, which was acquired by Toro Rosso in 2005 upon its introduction in F1.

Speaking of the fans’ support in Italy, Yuki said, “I am delighted to have scored points in our home race. Here in the stands today there were many people who came from the factory to see the race, and at every lap, I saw the flags of the AlphaTauri waving along the track. This has given me a great boost, and I really want to thank everyone who works so hard for the team.

Tsunoda started P12 on Sunday, an improvement of 4 places from Saturday’s sprint race, and made up five places overall, two of which can be credited to Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz’s crash. In an otherwise normal race, the driver drove well and was comfortably ahead of the eighth-placed Sebastian Vettel.

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