The Japanese made his debut with a brilliant performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix , achieving a ninth position and scoring two points in his first race. However, as the course progressed, the AlphaTauri rider showed his weak points with several accidents, such as in the Imola or Paul Ricard classifications, and he never avoided admitting his mistakes.
Yuki Tsunoda admitted that a combination of overconfidence and lack of practice caused a series of misfortunes to unfold that left his self-esteem in the dust. Reflecting on how he bounced back for a better 2022, the Japanese made it clear that he had learned important lessons, and that the change in mindset was essential.
One of his biggest mistakes, as he admits, was the lack of concentration to prepare for each race, and this caused him to move in the middle of the year to be closer to the team’s factory in Faenza.
“Until I went to Italy, I was very lazy,” he said with a laugh. “After training, I would go home, turn on the PS5 and play all day to enjoy myself.”
“Afterwards, when it was race weekend, I was always in a hurry,” acknowledged the 21-year-old. “I used to start preparing things late.”
His debut in the highest category caught the attention of many, such as the director of Formula 1, Ross Brawn , who considered him the most promising rookie in recent years.
However, the Japanese faced reality after his accident at the Emilia Romagna GP, when he went into the wall in Q1, as well as suffering a spin later in the race.
At that time it was not given much importance, but things got worse in Portimao, where he lacked pace, and in Spain, where he blamed his team for what happened in qualifying, although he was out of the race in the early stages for a mechanical problem. A few days later, in Monaco, he also went against the wall in Free Practice 2, which ended up causing his move to Italy.
After a period of adaptation, he no longer had excuses, but he was involved in a cycle with more problems, and he began to take things more calmly. With a broader perspective, Tsunoda confessed that the Bahrain event left him feeling that F1 was going to be easy.
“I wasn’t too confident, but I had a feeling it was too easy, I would say for F1, I didn’t have many setbacks, everything was under control, so that’s why I hoped it wouldn’t be too complex.
“I had an accident at Imola, but after that my confidence was still good. I just felt that the crash was unfortunate.”
“As soon as that happened to me constantly, I started to doubt my confidence and I felt that it was much more difficult, much more than I thought,” said the Japanese. “It was hard because of how I was preparing for the race weekend, the focus was completely gone.
“I was adopting a similar method to F2, which is a totally different format. I was always trying to push from the first free practice sessions and nail the lap, and in Formula 1 that is difficult to do,” he explained.
“There is a lot of risk that you hit the wall and lose time, and then you have to get your confidence back for the next session. At one point, my confidence was zero, it had never happened to me, so it took me a long time to get it back to how it was in Bahrain”.
The Japanese took time to reverse the situation, but finally, a series of coincidences helped Tsunoda to get things on the right track. First, his more cautious mindset led to a drop in performance, and AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost encouraged him to risk more.
With the chassis change in Turkey, the Japanese took a step forward, and recognized that he had to change his approach: “It was a turning point for me in terms of confidence.”
“Until Turkey, I was just trying not to make a big mistake and not go into the wall, so that’s why my pace was slow. I guess I was focused on not crashing, and as soon as I realized that I had to try harder, results and pace is the most important thing in F1,” said the Japanese.
“I changed my way of thinking, especially in Free Practice 1, I was saying I wasn’t going to crash. I haven’t crashed for about eight races in a row, that’s why I’m here.”
“The chassis change in Turkey helped me because I felt better with the car in terms of its control. For example, when I lost control of the car in Saudi Arabia I kept it under control, and before I couldn’t,” he explained.
Yuki Tsunoda still doesn’t know if AlphaTauri found something strange in his first chassis, but it doesn’t matter to him, as he finished the season much more comfortable and with the best result of the 22 races, a fourth place in Abu Dhabi.
It is fair to say that 2021 was a learning course for the Japanese: “It was a great year. I have never had so many ups and downs, I have never experienced such a situation in my career, so it was a great campaign for me.”
“It’s been a season to learn, I think I got a lot of experience and I don’t think I have much left to do, now that I’ve experienced the worst, I can move on,” he said.
The #22 hopes that in 2022 he can maximize his performance on the track: “It’s going to be a very important season for me. I don’t know how the pace is going to be with the new car, but for my part, I have to perform well”.
“I have to beat my partner and have constant speed, so now I know what I have to improve on, and if I do, I can beat my partner constantly,” he added.
“I already have all the ingredients I was looking for to continue, it has been a good year of preparation. If next season we have a good car, I have to perform and get points, and even if it is bad, I already know how to develop the car for to be faster,” he concluded.
