Franz Tost says Yuki Tsunoda has his future within Formula 1 in his own hands as the Japanese driver prepares for his second season in the sport in 2022.
Tsunoda made his debut with Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda in 2021 but endured an up and down season with the team, with the twenty-one-year-old scoring only thirty-two points to his name compared to the one hundred and ten of team-mate Pierre Gasly.
His season was punctuated by crashes in between decent drives as he adapted to life at the highest level of single-seater racing, but he ended the year with his best performance of the season with a fourth place finish in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
And Tost, AlphaTauri’s Team Principal, says that Tsunoda is a ‘fantastic’ driver, and it will now be up to him to prove that he belongs in Formula 1 beyond 2022, particularly with a number of young Red Bull-backed drivers waiting in the wings.
“I can only say that Yuki is a really fantastic driver,” said Tost to Motorsport.com. “Now, it’s also in his hands what he is making out of this, because to have talent is one story. I know a couple of F1 drivers that were really talented, but they won maybe one race or even no race.
“As a Formula 1 driver you cannot do enough physical training, nutrition is very important, to be really disciplined. And the complete way of life must be 100 percent matching what Formula 1 requests.
“This is now in his hands. We can only advise him, but then he has to do it by himself. And this is where you will see [if he] can become a real top star. From the driving side he can do it. Now it’s up to him.”
Tost says he was expecting a crash early on during Tsunoda’s rookie season, especially after the Japanese drivers’ points-scoring debut in Bahrain where he was already on the limit.
However, he says it is unfair to compare Tsunoda’s performances to those of team-mate Gasly, who was in his fourth season in Formula 1 and had race winning and podium finishing experience.
“Yuki’s season is a fantastic example of a rookie season,” said Tost. “It was in the past always the same, but this year was the first time that there was a very experienced driver on the side of a rookie.
“Normally we started with two rookies or a driver with one year of experience and then the difference was not so obvious. What happened with Yuki is totally easy to explain. [In Bahrain] he did a good race, finished ninth, everything fantastic. And it was clear for me a crash would come soon, because Yuki drove already on the limit.
“But it’s always the same with young drivers. We tell them ‘hey, you are on the limit’ and I know exactly what Yuki had in his head. After Bahrain he thought – and that’s typical for young drivers – ‘huh, Formula 1 is not so difficult’.
“He was shocked, he lost confidence. Of course, then the question comes: “Am I able to do this? Maybe Formula 1 is too fast for me?’ It’s with all the drivers the same, but with Yuki it’s just such a fantastic example.”