Yuki Tsunoda is no fan of the indispensable training sessions in the gym that all F1 drivers must endure, the AlphaTauri driver admitting that he underestimated the physical challenges of F1 during his rookie year in the sport.
The 21-year-old Japanese driver enjoyed a strong debut in F1's opening round in Bahrain last year where he finished an impressive P9.
But Tsunoda stumbled thereafter, suffering many messy weekends, and struggling throughout the summer to get on top of F1 before somewhat stabilizing his performance in the latter part of the season.
In hindsight, Tsunoda believes that part of his hassles during his rookie year were rooted in the fact that he simply wasn't physically up to the task of performing consistently at the wheel of an F1 car.
"The training I was doing, before the season started, I think was mostly right," Tsunoda explained, speaking to The Race.
"Of course, in Formula 3 and Formula 2, I kind of felt it a little bit but always from the middle of the season I’d start to get used to it and the body adapted to those conditions. Especially the neck, I never had a neck issue.
"But something happened last year. Maybe those other years physically I was naturally strong. That’s one of the reasons I was not training enough last year, and I realised too late.
"When I was racing Formula 2, those cars didn’t have power steering. So, my steering weight was much heavier in Formula 1.
"So I was thinking Formula 1 would be easier because there’s power steering! And maybe there’s the neck issue, but not as much as I was thinking.
"I thought Formula 1 would be kind of similar to Formula 2, maybe a bit harder. But yeah, I’d much rather be in a Formula 2 [physically]!"
Tsunoda says he only realized the full extent of his physical shortfall when he was forced to deal with more demanding circuits of warmer conditions.
"As soon as I went into more physically demanding tracks and also hotter track conditions, I felt like I’m not enough," he admitted
"I needed to work harder, especially compared with my team-mate [Pierre Gasly], who was training really hard, and I know how strong he is and how his physical performance affected the driving as well.
"I realised quite late that I have to increase. I thought at certain points before the season started that it was enough."
Unfortunately, Tsunoda's plight was compounded by the burden of his F1 schedule that left him very little time to train.
"As soon as the season starts, I couldn’t train much more, I couldn’t gain the physical performance because we are so time limited and as soon as one race finishes, the next race is going to start," he said.
"That’s why I’ve been preparing a lot compared to last year to avoid that situation. And also to prepare for the new cars and where I’m going to feel tired may be different compared to last year."
Tsunoda has indeed stepped up his physical training, but for young Japanese charger, going to the gym remains at the top of his list of torments in daily life.
"The day I have a gym session, when I wake up it feels like I’m just having a bad day," he conceded.
"I still don’t like gym sessions. I don’t like the smell of the gym, I don’t like everything. I don’t like the equipment, just everything.
"At the same time I know the gym helps a lot to increase my performance. Of course, I really don’t like it. But what I felt last year and experienced last year motivates me at least a little bit to train."
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