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Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda has termed the 2022 Imola GP as the best race of his F1 career. The driver also sees no reason why he can't get a result similar to that what he scored in Imola at the 2022 Miami GP.
The AlphaTauri driver had a woeful qualifying session ahead of the Imola GP sprint race, having secured only a P16 start. However, the young driver made up places in the sprint race, wrestling his way to a P12 start ahead of Sunday's Imola GP main race. However, his best performance came on Sunday, where he managed to take his mediocrely-paced AlphaTauri from P12 to P7, showing an impressive improvement over his average 2021 debut.
Yuki Tsunoda told the press ahead of the 2022 F1 Miami GP:
"We struggled a lot during qualifying, but we were able to gain positions session by session and in the end were able to score points with P7. So I was happy. That was my best race I have had in F1 but I think we need to score points more to achieve our targets. The performance I had in Imola was pretty good and there is no reason why we cannot perform well like we had in Imola over here as well".
Yuki Tsunoda is much calmer in 2022 compared to his debut season
The Japanese driver reflected on his 2021 season and how he used to have multiple episodes of shouting on the team radio. Yuki Tsunoda claimed that he has realized that being calm in certain situations is the best way to go about approaching things, saying:
“I would say, [on the] radio, maybe I’m still shouting, [but I’m] just not pressing the radio [button as much]. This is a massive step, compared to last year. Still, I think [I] try to be more calm. I realised that there’s no point to shout in the radio. It’s better to tell the limitations specifically with a calm voice and to go the next step, so I think this was good.”
The young driver also claimed that he didn't understand racing strategies as well in his rookie season and would just 'push' the car lap after lap. He now seems to have matured in his approach, claiming 2021 was massively helpful in showing him the ropes of F1.
Yuki Tsunoda continued:
“I think [I’m] much more controlled, I would say, compared to last year. Same time here last year, I was not fully in control. I didn’t know what I was doing, and every lap [I was] just pushing through the limit, and [that’s when] things happened. But actually, that makes me improve also. That was really good learning as a driver. After that, I went into a bad loop, but that makes good learning as well as a driver. [I was] able to [take] the next step, and that’s why [I was] able to score points today. I think, compared to last year, it’s a massive step, especially in the race pace.”
Only time will tell whether the young driver is able to further his F1 skills and compete against the best drivers on the grid.
