AlphaTauri is confident “extraordinary” new driver Yuki Tsunoda will deliver results during his rookie Formula 1 season.
The 20-year-old is one of the most promising Red Bull youngsters to join the grid in recent years after strong performances in F3 and F2, where he finished third in the standings in 2020.
Ahead of his debut, Tsunoda has been getting a good amount of track time with tests in the 2018 car and a recent shakedown of the new AT02 last week at Imola.
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But team boss Franz Tost does admit the Japanese driver will need a grace period to get fully settled in F1.
“We expect his learning curve to be quite steep, but he should be able to achieve a good performance quite quickly,” the Austrian said at the recent car launch.
“Of course, he will have some crashes, that’s part of the development program, but what is very extraordinary on his side is the car control, his strength in braking and his speed in fast corners, so if he continues his learning process – as he did at the tests in Imola and Abu Dhabi last year – I’m sure we will see some fantastic races.”
The AlphaTauri chief is also confident Tsunoda will have a good barometer to aim for in teammate Pierre Gasly.
“Pierre is a very high skilled driver and he now also has the necessary experience to be a leader in the team and for Yuki,” Tost added.
“Every driver compares themselves with their teammate so the better the latter is, the more you are pushed to improve yourself.”
That point was something Tsunoda himself acknowledged as he spoke about going up against Gasly this season.
“Pierre is really fast and already has a win under his belt in F1, so the first target for every driver is to beat your teammate but he will be a hard one to beat,” he said.
“I remember seeing him in Japan when he was racing in Super Formula and I was in Formula 4. He nearly got the title in his first year in Japan which is really difficult, especially for a European driver.
“He’s an incredible talent and I’m excited to learn everything I can from him this season, as I’ve already seen how integrated he is within the team.”
Yuki added: “My main goal for this season is to learn quickly and deliver results as soon as possible. I must always do the best I can and then we will see how the season plays out.”