"I really don’t care"- Here's how AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda is taking care of his mental health

F1 Grand Prix of Italy - Previews
Yuki Tsunoda of Japan and Scuderia AlphaTauri talks to the media in the paddock during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on September 08, 2022 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Yuki Tsunoda is one of the best young prospects on the grid this season. The Japanese driver is in his second F1 season with Alpha Tauri and recently earned a third year with the Red Bull sister team. In a recent interview with Give Me Sport, the young driver revealed how he takes care of his mental health.

In this era of toxic fans gatekeeping the sport, a simple mistake is causing trolls to spam social media and continuous fan wars. This youngster has incredibly managed to take care of his mental health. Yuki Tsunoda explained how he ignores social media and is not affected by it much. He said,

"I’m recently controlling that stuff quite well. Much better than last year. I recognise some people [speaking about] those situations, but I don’t read actual comments from them. I don’t see much social media anyway. I really don’t care!"

Yuki Tsunoda was recently involved in an incident at the 2022 F1 Dutch Grand Prix. The Alpha Tauri he was driving ran into some problems after pitting and had to be stopped on the track just outside the pitlane exit. People started speculating that it was a case of race manipulation by Red Bull and Yuki Tsunoda.

The yellow flags supposedly helped Max Verstappen win the race. Fans started accusing the Japanese driver of something he did not do. Tsunoda spoke about how he handled the situation. He said,

"I was surprised to be honest, how people reacted to it. It was just a very simple thing that there was a car issue. And the engineers at first didn’t recognise the issue in the data, that’s why we restarted. Then we found the issue in the data and that’s why we stopped. Simple as that. And people love to make drama or something like that and it’s way too much. It’s a bit frustrating."

Yuki Tsunoda looking forward to his home race

Singapore is next on the F1 calendar, taking place on October 2nd at the Yas Marina street circuit. But Tsunoda is excited for the race after that, the Japanese Grand Prix. Yuki Tsunoda is planning a special helmet for his home race. He said,

"I’m super excited about Suzuka, we’re already preparing special helmets. At the same time I heard there are lots of promotions that will happen in Suzuka, which is a bit of mixed feelings for me! But at least I can enjoy the Japanese food and driving in front of the Japanese fans in Formula One is definitely a special thing for me. I can’t wait for sure and hopefully the restrictions won’t be super strict in Japan."

The Japanese Grand Prix is returning this year, just like Singapore. Both the races were canceled due to the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Valtteri Bottas won the event in 2019 driving for Mercedes.

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Edited by Aatiya Alim Qazi