Soft tires weren’t considered the preferred compound to start the United States Grand Prix, but AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda weathered the heat and took two points for the team in ninth place.
Tsunoda made it into Q3 for the fifth time this season on Saturday and secured the top 10 on the grid with a solid qualifying performance in a row. However, he would be one of two drivers to start the race on soft tires – along with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who lamented his tire choice before the race. But the choice was right and the rookie was able to collect valuable points for his team, as team-mate Pierre Gasly finally retired.
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“Yes, I maximized the lead on the first lap, managed to overtake two cars,” said Tsunoda. “After that the tires had to save and in the end other cars unfortunately had to be eliminated, and I had a greater responsibility to score points, especially when we think about the team championship.
“Yes, I scored points – no points for a long time – and I’m happy and thank the team,” he added.
Yuki Tsunoda is very happy to score points with P9 in Austin
With P9 in the USA, Tsunoda scored the first time since the Hungarian GP in August – which ended a pointless drought of five races – and even managed to stop Mercedes-Valtteri Bottas early at COTA. He revealed how determined he was to keep him in check at the start of the race.
“Yes, I don’t even want another car, no other drivers, [let them by] I just did the right thing, normal thing, and I sacrificed a bit by using the tire, but I’m pretty happy here too – I enjoyed this fight, ”he said.
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And his race engineer Mattia Spini even exclaimed when Tsunoda crossed the finish line: “P9 – best race you have done this year, good job”.
Kudos to the Japanese youngster preparing for his first appearance at the Mexican Grand Prix.
The post Yuki Tsunoda survived the early stint on soft tires and took his first points since Hungary in his “best race of the year” first appeared on monter-une-startup.
