Yuki Tsunoda left Monza last weekend thoroughly disappointed by the performance of the latest upgrades implemented on RB’s car, and for which the Japanese charger had high expectations.
RB’s comprehensive package at the Italian Grand Prix featured a series of circuit-specific changes involving the front and rear wings on its VCARB 01 as well as profile tweaks to the car’s main underfloor in a bid to increase local downforce generation and management.
After a solid run of form earlier in the year, RB had been grappling with unintended issues that arose from developments introduced in Spain. This led the team scrapping several components in an effort to regain its form, making the Monza update even more critical.
The Faenza-based squad and its drivers hoped that last weekend’s changes would reignite the team’s competitiveness. However, those hopes quickly faded.
After being eliminated in Q1 during qualifying and retiring from the race after a collision with Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg on lap seven, Tsunoda was left frustrated by the underwhelming performance of the upgrades.
“I came into the weekend with high expectations with this upgrade, and it didn’t seem to work, so I hope it is not a downgrade,” Tsunoda lamented.
His disappointment was compounded by the fact that the car's limitations remained unchanged compared to his teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s car, which ran the older specification.
“We just didn’t have the pace and the limitations around the lap [compared to Ricciardo] are kind of similar,” he added.
“Whatever I do is just exaggerating limitations and I just keep sliding so it sucks but it is pretty hard to catch up.
“If you see the numbers [on the simulator], I should gain some lap time, but it is not even close to that and pretty far off from what we wanted for sure.”
©RB
Despite the frustrations, Tsunoda did find a small silver lining in the weekend’s struggles, as the team was at least able to do a straight-forward comparison between its two floor specifications.
“The team wanted to read how the new floor behaves and we wanted to gather the data, but clearly in qualifying we were struggling with the car over one lap,” he said.
“We were hoping that in the race, at least a new floor would give some benefits, and with upgrades, you have to try them on track to see how the behaviour is.
“But it is completely different to what I felt in the simulator, and on paper, it should work. But at least we had a good opportunity to compare [the two floors].”
Despite this underwhelming weekend, Visa Cash App RB remains in sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
However, with Haas closing the gap by securing a single point at Monza, the margin between the two teams has been reduced to just six points.
The team will now need to reassess its development strategy as it seeks to return to the points in the remaining races of the season.
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