Yuki Tsunoda has revealed that he was surprised by Red Bull’s decision to retain him for a second season with their sister team Alpha Tauri, despite his less-than-impressive rookie season.
Speaking in a post-season interview with GPFans, the Japanese driver said:
“I had a little bit of a surprise, but not so much. I was actually struggling (in 2021) but also at the same time I showed, a couple of times, good performances, and good improvements which normally it’s not enough, but for sure, I had a little bit of confidence that I can be part of the driver (line-up) in 2022.”
He further said:
“So, I was 20 per cent, maybe, surprised but most of the things I was feeling… Of course, I felt like, ‘Oh okay, now I (can) afford this, more to learn,’ and I felt more relaxed but there’s not much more I can add.”
There was much excitement around Tsunoda’s F1 debut with Alpha Tauri after his impressive F2 campaign in 2020 when he finished third overall behind Ferrari juniors Mick Schumacher and Callum Illot.
In the first race of 2021 in Bahrain, Tsunoda impressed with a superb drive to score his first points on debut. His season, however, took a downturn from the following race onwards.
He suffered from inconsistency and was prone to expensive crashes, despite showing flashes of brilliance. At times, he struggled in qualifying even as his veteran teammate Pierre Gasly was dueling with the top teams.
Red Bull has softened its approach to junior drivers in recent times
Tsunoda’s surprise at being retained for a second season by Red Bull is completely in line with expectations that many had of the team. The Austrian outfit has a notorious reputation for quickly promoting drivers to an F1 seat, but also discarding them equally as quickly as they fail to live up to expectations.
While the team supports a large number of potential candidates in the junior formula, there are at most three available seats for them in F1. As a result, the team has been rather ruthless in deciding whether to continue with a particular driver if their performance is subpar. A long list of Red Bull juniors who showed promise during their junior careers have had their potential careers in F1 ruined in part due to Red Bull’s impatience.
Following Pierre Gasly’s resurgence after a horrid 2019 season with the senior team, Red Bull, however, has taken a more considered approach to managing their talent rather than cutting ties with underperformers once and for all.
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This was particularly evident when the team went to great lengths to secure their former driver Alex Albon a seat in F1, despite not having a vacancy within one of their own teams.
The limited number of juniors who could potentially graduate into F1 in the near future could be one of the reasons behind the team’s differing approach, or they might have simply decided to give second chances.
