Yuki Tsunoda remains confident about his performance gains compared to Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. Despite a frustrating Hungarian Grand Prix, the Japanese driver believes his pace is nearly on par with the reigning champion.
Tsunoda qualified 16th and started the race from the pit lane due to a power unit change. However, he failed to climb the order and finished 17th after picking up front-wing damage mid-race.
“We knew coming into today that it would be tricky to move up into the points, and once I had damage to the front wing our race was effectively over,” said Tsunoda after the race.
“The gurney flap fell off halfway through and that cost us a lot of pace and worsening grip, so we then lost the ability to make a positive strategy call that would benefit us.”
Frustration Builds Over Team Errors
Tsunoda didn’t hold back on pointing out recurring miscommunication within the team, which also cost him in Spa.
“Also, something we can improve a lot communication wise is that if I was fighting for the points, there was a situation that could cost quite big,” he said.
“It has happened the last two weeks, the last two races back-to-back in a row so it is starting to get very frustrating with that. Something we have to improve a lot and fight hard the second half.”
Eyes on Reset and Stronger Comeback
Tsunoda hasn’t scored in seven straight races but believes his speed has improved. Since receiving the same RB21 floor update as Verstappen at Spa, he feels more competitive.
“Looking back on the season so far, I can feel pretty positive, we’ve made progress, especially since the new floor upgrades were brought to Spa,” he added.
“The gap with Max continues to close, it may not feel like we are getting there but on paper we are only one tenth off his pace. I’m not sure many other drivers could get as close to him.”
The 24-year-old plans to return to the Red Bull factory immediately and hit the simulator to prepare for the second half of the season.
“I am heading straight to the factory tomorrow to go into the [simulator]. We need to investigate where we went wrong and put in some hard work over the summer break so that we don’t start the next half of the season how we finished this one. It’s frustrating but we will stay positive and bounce back stronger.”
So far this season, Tsunoda has collected 10 points—three with Racing Bulls and seven with Red Bull. His highest race finish came in Bahrain (P9), along with two sixth-place results in Sprint events.
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