Yuki Tsunoda admits to ‘learning a lot’ from teammate Daniel Ricciardo who is a ‘good reference driver’
Daniel Ricciardo paired up with Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri mid-season in 2023 as Nyck deVries was made to exit Formula 1.
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Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda (via ExpressSport.co.uk)
Yuki Tsunoda’s 2023 season of Formula One had been quite an interesting one. He started off the year as AlphaTauri‘s senior driver as former teammate Pierre Gasly made way to Alpine to take up Fernando Alonso’s seat at the French outfit. Tsunoda was all-set to guide Formula E Champion Nyck deVries as the new entrant in F1. But the Dutchman was sacked from Red Bull’s sister team for failing to live up to the expectations of Chief Advisor Helmut Marko, who had given him the chance to finally enter Formula One in the first place.
In Nyck deVries’ place, Marko summoned Daniel Ricciardo. The Aussie was in the middle of a career slump after being ousted prematurely from McLaren when he got the call from Red Bull, his old team. The Milton-Keynnes outfit installed him as their ‘third driver’ in a reserve role. But midway through the season, Ricciardo entered AlphaTauri to meet the expectations that deVries could not.
Now, Daniel has only driven alongside Yuki Tsunoda, a racer who is almost 10 years younger than the Honey Badger, for only half a season. Still, Yuki reckons he has already learnt a great deal from the experienced Aussie who has right Grand Prix victories to his name.
I’m learning from him quite a lot of things. He is quite the opposite of me, which I want to fix, so at least for that, he’s a really good reference driver, and he’s given positivity to the team.Yuki Tsunoda spoke of Daniel Ricciardo, via Speedcafe.
Yuki Tsunoda compares his driving style to Daniel Ricciardo’s
Yuki Tsunoda is one of the last talented newbie racers to have entered Formula One in the last few years. And he is currently partnered with Daniel Ricciardo, who has seen a long and thriving F1 career for the most part. Thus, it would be natural for the two to share notes and Yuki to learn from his more experienced teammate. But the Japanese racer confirmed that the two of them have very different driving styles.
Our driving style is quite different, and what we require from the car is different, which is a good thing. I have good options, it’s good to see a different driving style to give me other options to go even faster.Yuki Tsunoda said about the AlphaTauri racers having different driving styles.
In other news, Daniel Ricciardo’s hopes of returning to his former team Red Bull seem like more of wishful thinking now. An F1 legend from Daniel’s own homeland Australia has claimed that the 34 year old has ‘run out of time’ for a seat at the current Championship-winning team in Formula 1.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)