Red Bull AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda now has a great chance to talk to Helmut Marko about his race speed after qualifying eighth for the Australian Grand Prix. The Japanese driver has had a difficult start to the 2024 campaign, finishing 14th and 15th respectively. in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, prompting complaints from the Austrian about the performances of 23-year-old teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Marko, who oversees Red Bull’s progression programme, has strongly hinted that neither driver is currently offering to upgrade Sergio Perez if the Mexican leaves the team this summer. “There’s a lot at stake for Tsunoda and Ricciardo,” he told Sky Germany.
“They’re both hoping for a seat at Red Bull, and one is way ahead of the other. So far, Ricciardo is a bit behind. But let’s put it this way: Tsunoda’s qualifying speed is fine. But in the race they are not too slow either.
“I think a point would have been imaginable in each of the first two races. It’s very difficult to score points behind the five most sensible [teams] and, when you get the chance, you can’t make mistakes. You want to check the decisions in the absolutely right order.
But on Saturday, Tsunoda’s speed looked more than “right”, beating Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, and giving him the best chance to open his account of trouble for the campaign, after racking up just 17 in 2023.
And his demonstration also forced Marko to swallow his words from last week: “They brought him back to the most sensible 10, it was an incredible performance, he was there, without making any mistakes,” the octogenarian said afterwards.
“Hopefully we can address the issues now, because the speed is there. This was already the case in the first two races. The five most productive groups are so strong that we managed to get into them (top 10), which is “an achievement”.
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Tsunoda himself showed no signs of his own satisfaction and declared himself “definitely happy” after the third quarter. “I didn’t expect, to be fair to you, to be in eighth position, not even in Q3 and after Q1, when I saw Williams and some groups accelerate as well. But I also think I can gain a lot of lap time in some places, so I’m happy, and that’s definitely a wonderful credit to the team that’s able to give me a very consistent car.
Tension continues to build on Ricciardo after the Australian suffered a humiliation at home at Albert Park. He had probably done enough to secure a place in Q2, but his most productive lap time was wiped out, leading to an early exit.
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