Yuki Tsunoda is certainly not unhappy with how his Visa Cash App RB team has started the 2024 season. Although the Japanese was disappointed that he did not score any points during the first two races, Tsunoda soon noticed that the pace of the VCARB01 was good. In Australia there was finally the chance for the RB driver to drive into the points, which gives confidence for the rest of the year.
‘The pace is certainly very good. But the first two races (Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, ed.) were very frustrating because a few things happened. I think there were opportunities to drive into the points and we missed them. We knew we just needed a clean race without incidents and in Australia we succeeded, without making any mistakes,” the Japanese driver reflects on the start of the season, speaking to the Italian branch of Motorsport.com.
In Jeddah, the Japanese driver managed to reach Q3 during qualifying, but Kevin Magnussen’s defensive driving during the race ensured that Tsunoda finished outside the points. In Australia, however, Tsunoda managed to achieve another excellent qualifying, and during the race he managed to stay out of trouble until the finish. It gave the driver a P7 result.
Tsunoda managed to win valuable points for Red Bull’s sister team in Australia. “These are very important points for me and also for the team and they give us confidence for the next races,” Tsunoda explains. “I think, especially after changing the identity of the team, it seems easy to finally do a clean race, but it wasn’t for us. There have been many changes behind the scenes, such as in the factory and on the track. So yes, the improvement was definitely positive, we made progress race after race.”
The Japanese also specifically mentions exactly what changes have been made to the VCARB01 car, compared to last year’s car. “It’s really impressive how our car behaves differently than last year, for example in a few corners we use an extra gear compared to last season’s car,” says Tsunoda.
Tost’s influence is still great
The RB driver really notices a world of difference between the 2024 car and last year’s car, and thinks that his team still owes this to former team boss Franz Tost, who left the team at the end of the 2023 season. retired. ‘We know that last year, especially in the first half of the season, we had a lot of problems. I think the work we put in to improve our car and the amount of upgrades we made in the second half of last year’s championship, like almost every race, definitely paid off. It is truly impressive what our team has achieved. Without Franz (Tost, ed.) We could not have achieved this result. So there is definitely still a bit of Franz’s influence felt,” says Tsunoda.
