On Thursday, Tsunoda and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo logged their first miles throughout a shakedown and filming day on the Italian circuit following a glitzy launch in Las Vegas the earlier week, the place the previous AlphaTauri workforce introduced its all-new identification as Visa Money App RB.
Tsunoda mentioned the brand new automobile already appears like a major enchancment over the automobile that completed solely eighth within the constructors’ standings final season, however had a powerful belated evolution that noticed Ricciardo end seventh in Mexico and Tsunoda seize eighth in Abu Dhabi.
“It is feeling nice on the monitor, the primary run with the VCARB 01 went all easy,” mentioned the 23-year-old Japanese, who stays on board for a fourth marketing campaign.
“I already felt a few steps of enchancment in comparison with final 12 months and a very massive step I felt in comparison with the identical time final 12 months. I actually loved additionally the brand new automobile with the brand new livery, new workforce, so it was a constructive day.
“I’d say total, it is a better dealing with automobile and simply did not really feel any excellent challenge or sturdy traits and actions. To date, I am feeling constructive.”
Ricciardo added: “From a sense it was simply good to get a number of laps once more after a Christmas break. It is arduous to know but the place we shall be however I felt actually good getting behind the wheel once more.
“Being again with Crimson Bull was already one thing that made me really feel entire once more, being again with that household. And now this 12 months it is one other part of this workforce’s ‘profession’.
Yuki Tsunoda, VCARB 01
Photograph by: Crimson Bull Content material Pool
“It is a time the place we’re now not seen as only a Crimson Bull type of junior workforce. It is a workforce that is standing by itself two ft.”
Technical director Jody Egginton hopes his squad can begin from the place it left off in Abu Dhabi moderately than having to claw its method again into competition once more.
“The general aim is we wish to be aggressive, we wish to be preventing arduous within the midfield and actually in a position to extract all of the efficiency that the automobile has obtainable after which we develop it from that time,” he mentioned.
“So, I believe if we are able to tick all of these containers and get the very best out of the automobile, we’ll be joyful.
“We had a powerful end to the 12 months final 12 months. Our expectation is that we’re in that battle within the midfield and we are able to get into that battle a bit of bit earlier, be a bit extra constant and be a function in the entire races, actually, battling arduous within the battle for factors and making an attempt to extract essentially the most from the automobile and from ourselves.”
