Sister Red Bull outfit RB doubled in Miami its best weekend points tally in 2024, a productive effort that reflects the team’s “crazy” progress this season insisted Yuki Tsunoda.
On Saturday, Daniel Ricciardo concluded F1’s Sprint event an impressive fourth, which put 5 points in RB’s bag at the outset while Tsunoda collected a solitary point in the short-form race.
But on Sunday, the Japanese driver’s solid run to seventh in the Grand Prix proper added another 6 points to the team’s score, taking its total weekend haul to 12.
Tsunoda’s performance marked his second top-seven result of the season and his third top-ten finish in four races, having initiated his momentum in Melbourne in March.
It’s the 23-year-old’s best start to a campaign in F1 since his promotion to motorsport’s elite in 2021, a strong form that Tsunoda says he owes to his team’s hard work this year.
“The amount of points we got this week was a lot for us,” Tsunoda told the media in Miami.
“It shows how much the people who work in the background [at the] factory, the amount that they're pushing.
“It’s incredible and we’re happy that we're able to score the points that we deserve.”
In Miami, RB’s upgrades on its VCARB 01 included a revised floor and diffuser designed to generate more local load. And by all accounts, the changes were conclusive from the outset.
“We got a bit of upgrades this week and I think that helped a lot,” Tsunoda added. “I mean straight away from FP1 I felt comfortable and [on Saturday] Daniel was P4.
“Over a long stint, we got a P7 and were even faster than one of the Mercedes.
“So [we] never achieved [something] like this [at] the first races, the amount of progress we’re having is crazy.”
Tsunoda’s strong display wasn’t lost on RB team boss Laurent Mekies who underscored the Japanese charger’s consistency this season.
“Yuk’s fourth Q3 appearance out of six races this season underlines how consistently he is performing and today, he underlined his maturity with an intelligent, yet aggressive and super quick drive from tenth on the grid to seventh at the flag,” commented the Frenchman.
“Excellent work!”
