“Won’t be difficult”: Yuki Tsunoda expecting relatively easier races to close out the 2024 season
Yuki Tsunoda anticipates relatively smoother races in the final two rounds of the 2024 F1 season. Speaking to media, including Sportskeeda, after the Las Vegas GP, the VCARB driver acknowledged the challenges ahead, particularly in Qatar, where staying ahead of Alpine and Haas will be critical to finishing the season on a high.
VCARB has slipped to eighth in the constructors’ standings after being overtaken by Alpine and Haas. Despite the narrow gap between the three teams, Tsunoda emphasized the importance of maximizing both weekends to reclaim the sixth place VCARB held for much of the season. While confident about Qatar, he highlighted the team’s potential disadvantage in straight-line speed compared to its rivals.
Tsunoda also stressed that the tight field makes qualifying crucial, requiring a strong car setup from FP1 onwards. He acknowledged the final two races might be easier than Las Vegas but expects a fierce battle among the three teams and their six drivers.
Asked by Sportskeeda if the current result gives him confidence going into the next two race weekends, Yuki Tsunoda said:
“Yeah, still will be easy, won’t be difficult. Like I think Qatar, I'm expecting will be a difficult race. You know, like especially the tracks, we have a lot of straight line speeds. Straight line we tend to be suffering where the Haas and Alpine cars are pretty fast in the straight, always perform well. So, you know Qatar will also be one of the big mountains we have to climb. Definitely have to finish ahead of Haas or Pierre and Alpine. So it will still be difficult.”
“Yeah I mean we have to definitely be more spot on like from FP1 this week. We're able to managing almost like a last moment to make the car better but ideally we want to have a good car from FP1 to build the confidence. So those things are definitely will affect the last milliseconds. And this current field is really tight and qualifying. We have to be more spot-on and for me, for myself, feeling confidence, going to Qatar. It will be definitely a tight fight, but we have to do it,” Yuki Tsunoda added.
Yuki Tsunoda was satisfied finishing ahead of Liam Lawson and Sergio Perez in Las Vegas
Yuki Tsunoda found satisfaction in outperforming teammate Liam Lawson and finishing ahead of Sergio Perez at the Las Vegas GP. The Japanese driver secured seventh place, while Lawson crossed the line in 16th and Perez in 10th. Ahead of the race, Tsunoda had confidently remarked about outperforming the teammates Red Bull had paired him with over the past two seasons. Following the night street race, the 22-year-old expressed optimism about the team’s performance, noting that finishing ahead of both Haas and Alpine marked a step forward in their ongoing battle for sixth in the constructors’ standings.
Asked by Sportskeeda if he was successful in beating his teammate as he wanted, Tsunoda said:
“Yeah, it was a pretty tough race I would say. I think as a team we made such a good step throughout the race week, but compared that, to Haas and Alpine, I think I was still missing a couple of things. But including that, I think still scoring points was good, especially I made also minimum damage in the end finishing ahead of Perez. So for me I did as much as I can.”
Yuki Tsunoda has scored 30 points this season, placing him 11th in the drivers’ standings. His team, VCARB, currently trails Haas by three points and Alpine by four in the constructors’ championship. With Qatar featuring a sprint format, Tsunoda is optimistic about the opportunity to maximize points in both the sprint and main race as the team fights to reclaim sixth place in the standings.