Yuki Tsunoda opens up on Red Bull RB21 challenges, unpredictable handling, Imola crash, and his cautious approach ahead of the Monaco GP.
Tsunoda explained in Monaco why he has not yet managed to fully adapt to the Red Bull RB21. While less lost behind the wheel than Liam Lawson before him, the Japanese driver remains far off Max Verstappen’s pace and stood out last Saturday in Imola with a major crash following a sudden loss of control.
“I think it’s because I don’t have muscle memory when I’m driving the car,” said Tsunoda. “When I was at Racing Bulls, if I lost control of the car, it was super easy to react. I didn’t have to think about anything to respond. But so far, there are still unpredictable movements.”
“And yes, these are things that come with experience, I suppose. This isn’t the first time I’ve had this approach. I’ve done it for several years and never had a crash on a fast lap with the VCARB. That helps me realise how much I don’t yet know the limit of this car.”
Tsunoda Rebuilds After Crash
After a strong comeback in the race up to tenth place, he admitted he could have achieved a good result: “I don’t know what was possible, to be honest. Up until FP2, the pace was quite good, I was pretty close to Max, but FP3 was chaotic, so it’s hard to say where I could have finished.”
“The pace was really good, so I think it wasn’t impossible, and Max won. The crash certainly didn’t help with the learning, and I acknowledged that I don’t understand everything about the car. I still remember every moment of that corner, and it was a very unexpected movement, which is the first time I’ve had that kind of experience.”
“Sometimes you have to take a step back and gradually rebuild confidence, because it’s easy to put too much pressure on yourself, so I have to question myself, but I was happy to be able to regain confidence during the race. My progress continues, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
The Japanese driver will be cautious on the Monaco circuit, though he enjoys it greatly: “I like this circuit, I have good memories from past years with strong results. I have confidence, I’m in a new team and the car behaves differently, so I’ll need to be more careful than usual. But no driver will be at 100% from Free Practice 1.”
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