Yuki Tsunoda’s unexpected top 8 finish in the Australian GP highlights his exceptional performance, defying expectations and setting the stage for a promising race day.
Yuki Tsunoda delivered one of the standout performances of the Australian Grand Prix qualifying session, securing eighth place for the RB F1 team. The Japanese driver expressed surprise at his result for the day.
“I’m happy, I didn’t expect to be eighth. Even making it to Q3, I didn’t believe it after Q1 when I saw Williams and others improving their performance,” Tsunoda stated. “But I managed to find time in several places, and that got me into Q3. I thank the team for providing a consistent car right from FP1.”
“We will do what we can; it will be tough, tougher than in qualifying. But what we need is to avoid mistakes, have a clean race, and not get frustrated. We need this to make a step forward, and if we manage, anything can happen, and we could score points.”
Daniel Ricciardo was significantly behind his teammate after his fast lap, which was deleted due to exceeding track limits. He admits not understanding such a gap and realized early on he was in a precarious position. However, he thought his lap was sufficient.
“At that moment, at turn 4, I knew I was fighting to get through,” Ricciardo declared. “I remember taking more kerbs than usual, so I knew I was wider than usual.”
“But it’s funny, you do it, and by turn 5, I had already forgotten. It took a while to realize. The lap itself satisfied me; I felt I got the maximum out of it.”
“Seeing it wasn’t good enough compared to Yuki…, I’m still a bit puzzled. I’m puzzled because I know what these laps usually mean, and I crossed the line thinking ‘yeah, that was a good lap.’ These laps are usually more than enough, and yet, it wasn’t.”
“Looking at the time he set in Q2, I can tell you I can’t find an extra seven tenths over what I got in Q1. I’m sure there’s some track evolution, but honestly, there are still things we need to look into because it’s really tough so far.”
Ricciardo feels “not capable” of matching the pace.
Ricciardo is even more puzzled as he feels he had his best Saturday of the season so far: “This is undoubtedly the best qualifying lap I’ve done this year.”
“Going into Q2, I don’t know if there was much more time to find. Obviously, you gain a few tenths with the track evolving, but six or seven tenths, that’s not happening.”
“I feel confident in terms of braking, balance, and all that. It’s not like McLaren where I was a bit uncertain and couldn’t push the car. But yes, there are cornering speeds I’m not able to achieve. I feel like I’m at the limit with the car in terms of balance and potential.”
“After Saudi Arabia, we noticed some differences between the cars, the team made quite a few changes, and gave me many new parts for this weekend to address some of those issues and concerns. Things seemed to improve, but I’m not entirely convinced yet.”
“We still feel like we’re struggling more than usual in a car that I’m actually quite happy with. It’s not like I think it really struggles here or there; it’s actually a very nice car to drive. It’s just the lap time that proves otherwise.”
Tsunoda Surprises with Top 8 in Australia GP. Tsunoda Surprises with Top 8 in Australia GP
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