Former driver and analyst Christijan Albers analyzed the two most striking moments after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and according to him, Oliver Bearman, Yuki Tsunoda and Kevin Magnussen were the biggest protagonists. Albers was very impressed by the young debutant, while he saw in the background how Magnussen made life difficult for Tsunoda.
Albers made no secret of his appreciation for Bearman in the Telegraaf podcast. ‘I am really impressed with what he has shown. He was immediately thrown to the lions and that is really not easy, just the thousands of buttons on the steering wheel, for example, make it terribly difficult!’ The analyst was open-mouthed in amazement when he saw how he did even better than drivers with years of experience. ‘He wasn’t afraid to show his muscles, but he also knew how to stay out of the walls. Men with more experience, such as Logan Sargeant or Lance Stroll, did not succeed.’
According to the analyst, Bearman is therefore a young talent that the Formula 1 teams should keep a close eye on. ‘As a newcomer, he can easily end up high on our lists. Liam Lawson is of course still at the top because he simply belongs in Formula 1, but Bearman is not far behind.’ Albers found it incredibly special how the young Briton could keep a cool head even under this pressure. “He just shows that he doesn’t just break under all the pressure, that he can stay on the court and even score points.”
Tsunoda is still too often underestimated according to Albers
On the other side of the grid there was another exciting battle to divide the last points, although Magnussen played an important role in that. The Dane had already received a ten-second time penalty, but was therefore used as a kind of bait by his team. Tsunoda, in turn, was very excited about that, Albers noted. ‘Tsunoda just rode behind Magnussen again, and he really went crazy! But Magnussen is of course also a defensive driver, who could almost work as a defender for a football team.’
Even though the Japanese driver thought the situation was far from ideal, he still showed his best side, according to Albers. ‘Tsunoda really didn’t have a good time chasing Magnussen, but hats off to him. This weekend he did better again than Daniel Ricciardo, who was no longer looking forward to it.’ According to the analyst, the Visa Cash App RB driver deserves more appreciation than he sometimes receives from outside. ‘I see that Tsunoda is actually still very underestimated up to this point, and that is unfair.’
