[JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK] Yuki Tsunoda Makes Solid Start to Formula One Season

Read the full story on SportsLook - [JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK] Yuki Tsunoda Makes Solid Start to Formula One Season

It's still early in a long Formula One season, with eight of 24 races completed. But for the first time in his career, it looks like Yuki Tsunoda has a good shot at finishing in the top 10 in 2024 in the driver standings.

Tsunoda, who made his F1 debut in 2021, has five top-10 finishes in his last six races to solidify his spot at 10th in the standings with 19 points. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso is ninth with 33 points. Max Verstappen of Red Bull tops the list with 169 points.

At the Australian Grand Prix on March 24 and the Miami GP on May 5, Tsunoda had a pair of seventh-place finishes. He's already surpassed his points total from last season.

More consistency has helped vault Tsunoda, who turned 24 on May 11, into the top 10 this season. He placed a career-best 14th in the F1 standings in 2023 with 17 points, was 17th in 2022 and 14th in '21.

Up next: the Canadian Grand Prix on June 9 in Montreal.

Yuki Tsunoda Making Strides in 2024

RB CEO Peter Bayer spoke about Tsunoda's maturation as a driver in a recent interview with Formula1.com. Tsunoda made his F1 debut when the team was known as AlphaTauri. The Red Bull-owned team was rebranded as Visa Cash App RB, or simply RB, before the 2024 season.

"I definitely believe he has made a big step forward," Bayer told the official F1 website. "It's physical preparation, but it's also his mental readiness to perform and deliver."

In the same article, Bayer had this to say: "He's extremely professional in the work that he's putting into the feedback with the engineers, and yes, he definitely made a big step up."

After his aforementioned seventh-place finish in Miami, Tsunoda assessed his performance and the racing team's.

"As a team, we stuck to our plan and didn't make any mistakes today," Tsunoda told reporters. He added, "As for me, overall, I'm happy with my driving even though I made a mistake at the start. I reset myself and kept going, and especially in the last stint where I was just driving by myself, I was pushing and able to achieve similar lap times to the cars in front."

Tsunoda placed eighth in F1's most recent race, the Monaco GP, on May 25.

Tsunoda Pleased to Earn Points

How did Tsunoda react to his best-ever Monaco GP showing, after finishing 16th, 17th and 15th in his three previous race appearances?

"[It's] good that we scored points again," Tsunoda said, according to Formula1.com after the race. "I think we deserved these points. It was kind of fine-tuning, a bit of balance between me and my strategy."

He continued: "[I] kind of tried to be calm as much as possible. In the end, the last couple of laps I enjoyed it and [it's my] first points in Monaco, so definitely a happy day."

When Tsunoda placed 10th in the Japanese GP on April 7 at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Bayer described it as a race highlighting his poise. Bayer noted the pressure of competing before Japanese fans in his home country.

"That's something that we've seen now at the last couple of races, and he has made such big progress mentally," Bayer said, according to motorsport.com.

"Over the winter he made amazing progress physically, but mentally he is on a different level now. He's taking this up, and he's actually taking energy from it, rather than being distracted. I think this was certainly a mega drive from him."

Teamwork Pays Off for Tsunoda and Racing Crew

In a motorsport.com article on Tsunoda posted online on April 14, the driver highlighted the never-ending quest for improvement in all aspects of racing operations. This, he said, is a big deal in more consistent quality results this season.

"I have to say that the team is honestly so focused on finding that hundredth here, a tenth here. It's a massive effort where everyone's fighting for it," Tsunoda told the website. "And I think that it's a homogeneous push, and that's probably what allows us to sort of sniff into the top 10."

Continue reading the full story, which includes news items on track and field, baseball and more, on SportsLook.

RELATED:

• F1 Driver Yuki Tsunoda Aiming to Keep the Momentum Going at Japanese Grand Prix
• [JAPAN SPORTS NOTEBOOK] Yuki Tsunoda Heading in the Right Direction

Author: Ed Odeven

Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.