Yuki Tsunoda feels whoever is fastest at Scuderia AlphaTauri during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship will become the de facto team leader of the Faenza-based outfit.
Ahead of his third season of his Formula 1 career, twenty-two-year-old Tsunoda will have a brand-new team-mate at AlphaTauri, with Pierre Gasly being replaced by Dutchman Nyck de Vries.
Gasly was the effective team leader and had been a multiple podium finisher as well as a race winner, but his departure to the BWT Alpine F1 Team means Tsunoda will be the most experienced driver at AlphaTauri.
De Vries may be a former champion in both FIA Formula 2 and the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, but he only has one start to his name in Formula 1, which came in the 2022 Italian Grand Prix when he was a last-minute replacement for an unwell Alexander Albon at Williams Racing.
Tsunoda knows that the Dutchman is going to be a quick team-mate, and although he is the more experienced of the two, it is going to be whoever is the quicker of the two drivers that ultimately becomes team leader.
“Well, the faster guy is going to be leading the team anyway,” Tsunoda is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com about who will be team leader in 2023. “So, I don’t care, team leader or not, I’m just focused on my job, lots of things to learn and improve.
“Obviously, I’m still more responsible than this year, because Pierre is going to leave. But still, I’m having strong confidence I can achieve that. I’ll be back stronger.”
Tsunoda felt he had a stronger 2022 season than his rookie campaign, with the Japanese driver making fewer mistakes than he did in 2021. However, it was not a great season overall for AlphaTauri, who slipped to ninth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
“I think overall for this season, I’ve always progressed every race pretty well, and I’m pretty happy about the shape I ended up this year,” added Tsunoda. “Obviously, I still need a lot of improvement, especially consistency, but at least I’m clear about the target for next year.
“Also a big thank you to Pierre. The last two years, without him I couldn’t achieve this much progress and I learned a lot of things from him. I’ll miss him, but it was a pleasure to work with him.”