Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda made an eye-catching start to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend with an impressive third place at the end of Friday practice in Imola.
Tsunoda was within four tenths of a second of pace setter Charles Leclerc in both sessions, and his FP2 time put him ahead of both Mercedes and the two Red Bull cars, as well as Leclerc's Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz.
Tsunoda was clearly delighted by his achievement, and setting his sights high when it comes to tomorrow's qualifying session as well as the race on Sunday afternoon.
“I’m feeling good," he said afterward. "It’s been a very positive and consistent day for us straight from FP1, and I’m excited for the coming days of our home race.
"The performance was there straight away," he added. "Now we just continue progressing from session to session, put it all together and maximise the car package. So far, top ten is likely - but anything can happen."
"We’re obviously aiming for the highest position possible, but at the same time just try to focus and extract the performance of the car," he continued. "The midfield remains very tight, so we need to stay sharp.
Tsunoda said that his preparation for the weekend had benefitted from the return to a standard race format after back-to-back Sprint race weekends in China and Miami which limited practice time on track.
"Returning to a normal weekend again, I feel more comfortable and less stressed because we know we have time to progress and build up our laps," he admitted.
"Yuki was happy with his car from the very first lap of the day," reported RB sporting director Alan Permane. "He has really built on that, and his confidence.
"We ran all three tyre compounds today and he set his fastest lap on the softs midway through FP2 and was generally happy with the car.
"As always there are some little things to look at tonight, to tweak and improve even more for FP3 and qualifying tomorrow," Permane added.
However Pername acknowledged that it had been a "mixed day" for the team overall, with Tsunoda's team mate Daniel Ricciardo who was unable to show the same sort of pace and finished outside the top ten in both sessions.
"Daniel wasn’t that happy and complained about oversteering in the first laps of the morning," Pername explained. "That’s been improved and he’s generally getting happier with the car.
"There’s still work to do, but we’ll analyse things tonight and get him up and closer to the front of the grid, and with that, we can aim to get both cars into Q3 tomorrow afternoon.”
"I’m still positive," insisted Ricciardo. "I think we’re looking all right, which Yuki showed by having a good day with a great lap in FP2. Also, who knows what everyone else will do.
"The aim is to be a strong Q3 car," he added. "There are a few things in the setup that we’re trying to improve. We’ll do a few more tweaks tonight, and I feel like another practice tomorrow will be good.
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