Yuki Tsunoda unveils key reasons behind AlphaTauri’s underwhelming season

Yuki Tsunoda identifies braking issues as key factor in AlphaTauri's substandard 2023 performance

Yuki Tsunoda unveils key reasons behind AlphaTauri’s underwhelming season

Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda was comfortably in the points at the Monaco GP after qualifying in P9. However, as the race progressed, both McLarens overtook the Japanese driver and slowly dropped the order to P15. Tsunoda was heard complaining about the brakes several times at Monaco. When asked about his drop in pace, here is what Tsunoda had to say.

“Literally, I don’t feel any efficiency from braking. It just doesn’t warm up,’’ he complained. Tsunoda also mentioned that this problem has been prevailing since last year, where is affected His former teammate Pierre Gasly more than him. “The brake issues we have are from probably last year. It happened more often towards Pierre rather than me. But this happens to me more [this season],” he stated.

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However, after Tsunoda expressed his troubles with break heating issues, he believes his team has overcome this issue at the Spanish Grand Prix. “We changed a little bit the brake approach to have more aggressive temperature,” said Tsunoda referring to the changes made in Barcelona. “Actually, that was much better because efficiency was much better than Monaco,” he continued. “I think the team did a good job,” he concluded.

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Yuki Tsunoda’s tumultuous 2023 season

Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix; Image credits: PlanetF1

Yuki Tsunoda became the team’s lead driver after Pierre Gasly’s departure to Alpine. Tsunoda had great expectations to perform well after partnering up with Nyck de Vries for 2023. However, the Japanese driver’s season has been filled with mixed results. After a quiet season so far, Tsunoda will look to better his form

Yuki had two 11th-place finishes in the first two rounds at Bahrain and Jeddah. At Albert Park, he was running at P5 before the third red flag came out, resulting in a P10 finish scoring his and AlphaTauri’s first points of the season. He was classified 10th again in Azerbaijan. After developing braking issues, Tsunoda finished out of the points at the Monaco GP.

At the Spanish Grand Prix, Tsunoda was given a 5-second penalty for pushing Guanyu Zhou off-track; as a result, the Japanese driver finished out of the points. Yuki Tsunoda is currently P16 in the drivers’ standings ahead of his rookie teammate Nyck de Vries. With the two points he scored, AlphaTauri is 19th in the constructors’ standings.

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