Yuki Tsunoda has been struggling since his promotion to Pink Bull Racing, selecting up simply 9 factors since making the step-up. The Japanese driver is now beneath stress, and Helmut Marko has named the Mexican Grand Prix on the finish of October as a reference level – which means the subsequent three race weekends will likely be ‘essential', in response to Tsunoda.
Isack Hadjar at present stands on pole-position for promotion to the senior group in 2026 and Tsunoda himself didn't rule out a return to Racing Bulls whereas talking to the media forward of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
He is aware of the principle space of enchancment: race tempo. Tsunoda has made progress on Saturdays and managed to succeed in Q3 in Monza – which Pink Bull expects of him – however over a full race distance the state of affairs seems to be far more worrying. The image is considerably the other of a lot of Max Verstappen's earlier team-mates: Sergio Perez struggled extra on Saturdays in comparison with the four-time world champion, whereas the hole in race tempo was (barely) smaller than over a single flying lap.
“I have to concentrate on the lengthy runs, particularly for now,” the Pink Bull racer defined in Baku. “In Monza, I had a bit of injury, however as a group we additionally work laborious to know what's the principle challenge inflicting the long term tempo. The issues that we expertise are issues that even the group cannot actually clarify. That is the principle factor.
Yuki Tsunoda, Pink Bull Racing Staff, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photograph by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Pictures
“When it comes to the brief runs, I am very proud of it. I feel the group may be very blissful as properly. It is clear that I am exhibiting race by race that I am getting near Max, despite the fact that there's package deal distinction,” Tsunoda factors out, referring to the truth that he needed to drive with an older flooring specification in most races. “I used to be constantly two tenths behind Max in qualifying, other than Q3. I feel that is undoubtedly exhibiting properly and undoubtedly folks within the group are noticing this.”
Three tenths per lap in injury at Monza
Sundays, nevertheless, usually inform a really completely different story, as was the case in Monza – the place he completed eighty seconds behind race winner Verstappen, injury included.
“What I heard is that the injury was lower than three tenths per lap, however as I mentioned, we have been struggling anyway. Myself, I used to be combating the issues that even the group could not clarify, and we tried to kind out these points,” Tsunoda added.
The problems compelled Tsunoda to experiment with set-up greater than he would have appreciated.
“We needed to type of treatment these issues with the steadiness, which was not ideally suited as a result of I used to be proud of the steadiness we had,” he mentioned. “However by some means the tyres have been carrying like loopy. Till FP3, what we tried was to seek out out what was responsible for the tyre put on challenge, however we could not discover it, so we simply needed to alter the steadiness. In a manner I did not like that, and clearly it was simply taking a lot efficiency from the automobile.”
That instantly explains why Tsunoda can nonetheless be moderately aggressive over one lap – when he can totally exploit the Pirelli tyres – however has monumental issue holding the tyres alive over a full stint.
“I am simply missing within the lengthy runs. We're working actually laborious, each from my aspect and in addition from the group's aspect, to place every thing collectively within the lengthy runs. Perhaps there are some issues that you could't clarify, however I attempt quite a lot of issues to make it work and luxuriate in this course of.”
