Yuki Tsunoda says Honda’s new 2021 engine is a “big improvement” compared to the unit he previously experienced during his first tests with AlphaTauri.
Tsunoda made his official debut with the Faenza-based squad on Friday in Bahrain, the 20-year-old rookie completing 37 laps over the course of the afternoon and tagging on another 57 laps on Saturday morning as he shared driving duties with teammate Pierre Gasly.
Tsunoda’s Friday session was somewhat compromised by a fuel system issue diagnosed by the team and which hampered most of his runs and also cut his afternoon short.
But the setback, coupled with the windy and sandy conditions surrounding Sakhir, certainly didn’t temper the 20-year-old’s enthusiasm of driving an F1 car.
“It was really exciting,” said Tsunoda. “I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end, especially the tricky conditions at the beginning of the session. Really sandy, and less grip.
“But for a debut in Formula 1, it was really good for controlling the car a lot to feel the limit of the downforce, so I enjoyed that.
“At the end, I had a bit of an issue, a bit of a fuel thing I think it was. I just drove 37 laps and my lap time was the lap time I did first with the hard tyre.
“So not the top potential, but it was a good test, and with the issue, it’s always good to have it in testing, not in the real race. So a good start.”
Although the issue that impacted Tsunoda’s didn’t allow him to conduct consistent runs, the AlphaTauri charger was still able to gauge the performance of his team’s new AT02 challenger and of its new Honda new power unit in particular.
“The PU, the engine, had a big improvement,” he said. “Quite a good improvement compared to AT01, so I think we had a good start.
“I also think for the steering, we have a good step, and I have more confidence to drive into the corners. For me, it’s a really good, positive thing.”
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Read also: Driver’s Eye – A lap of Imola with Yuki Tsunoda
Tsunoda will head into his first Grand Prix later this month with limited mileage. But the Japanese young gun is determined to “push hard”, even at the cost of making mistakes.
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“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the races, how the physical [aspect] is going to be, how the tyre degradation is going to be in Formula 1,” he added. “So I’ll just push hard from the beginning.
“Maybe I will do mistakes, and some silly things. But I’m not afraid about that, because to learn the limit, you have to do mistakes.
“So just push hard and try to get as much as possible in the points and just do my best.”
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