Yuki Tsunoda enjoyed a solid run in the top ten in the Australian GP, the Japanese charger scoring his first points of the 2024 season, a result he says that highlights RB’s remarkable progress year-over-year.
Tsunoda crossed the checkered flag at Albert Park in eighth position, but his spot in the running order was upgraded to P7 at the end of the day on the back of a 20-second penalty imposed by the stewards on Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Thanks to an already strong performance in qualifying that had seen him join the top-ten shootout on Saturday, Tsunoda launched his race from P8 on the grid – ten spots ahead of RB teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Relying on a two-stop medium-hard-hard tyre strategy, a flawless drive coupled with his RB team’s strong execution ensured that Yuki was able to deliver the goods.
“Finally, a top ten finish, the team definitely deserves it, and I’m very happy,” commented Tsunoda with a sigh of relief.
“We were very consistent throughout this weekend and the car felt good straight away, so we just had to put it all together and have a clean race to score points in this tight midfield, and we were able to achieve that today.
"In the end, the race wasn't easy. A couple of teams picked up the pace quite a lot, but we were able to maximise performance and the opportunity, so I'm very happy. The team did a fantastic job."
Tsunoda underscored the significant difference between last year’s AlphaTauri 2023 car and his VCARB 01 and which attests to the hard work conducted by RB since the latter part of last season.
"It's just actually very impressive how our car is performing a lot differently compared to last year," he said. "Consistently, in a couple of corners, we are using a higher gear compared to last year's car.
"We knew that last year's off-season especially, we struggled a lot, so I think the team has done a significant job.
"I think the massive, massive work to improve ourselves, improve our car, the amount of upgrades we brought second half [of last season] was like almost every race, it's definitely hard work that has paid off."
Tsunoda’s strong result in Melbourne evidently bodes well for his home race in Suzuka next week.
“The whole weekend is a great way to go into Japan, especially with this result under the belt, and at least, I’m able to give some hope to the Japanese fans,” he added.
“I haven’t scored any F1 points at my home Grand Prix, but the car looks good, so let's try again this year.”
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