Yuki Tsunoda felt it had been a productive three days of testing for Scuderia AlphaTauri at the Bahrain International Circuit, although he does not know where the team will sit compared to their rivals when the season gets underway at the same circuit this weekend.
Tsunoda, heading into his third season in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, admitted he found some limitations with the AT04 during the test, but the Japanese race believes the team will be able to find a fix to ensure they can maximise their potential.
Amid a midfield that could turn out to be tighter than last year, Tsunoda knows the team will need to do everything they can to return to the kind of form that deserted them in 2022 and left them only ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.
“We’ve had a productive three days of testing, where we gathered a lot of good data for the season,” said Tsunoda. “Today was my first afternoon session for this test, and I was happy with the quality of my driving during performance runs and my feedback to the team.
“We found some limitations, but looking deeper into it, I am certain the team and I will be able to improve in these areas to make the performance stronger. We’ll be working to keep this momentum going into next week and I hope we can achieve good results for the coming races.
“As always, it’s a tight midfield, but it’s difficult to compare ourselves to the other teams without knowing what programmes they were running. I’ll rest up, so that I am able to give 100 per cent for the race next week.”
“We Learnt a lot about our package” – Nyck de Vries
Team-mate Nyck de Vries completed his first pre-season testing programme as a Formula 1 driver on Saturday, and the Dutchman was also pleased with how it unfolded.
De Vries was brought in to replace BWT Alpine F1 Team-bound Pierre Gasly for the 2023 season after impressing during a one-off appearance with Williams Racing in last years’ Italian Grand Prix where he scored a ninth-place finish.
Like Tsunoda, de Vries hopes to be able to maximise the teams’ potential when the season gets underway this coming weekend, although he knows the midfield is likely to be extremely competitive.
“Today was the last day of testing and I’m very pleased with how everything went,” said de Vries. “We completed many laps and were able to tick all the boxes.
“We learnt a lot about our package throughout the three days of testing, which will help us put everything together for next week.
“Equally, the midfield is very tight and competitive, so hopefully we can maximise our potential and get a good result for the first race of the season.”
Nyck de Vries goes into his rookie season with confidence – Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images