Yuki Tsunoda enjoyed one of his best Fridays of his rookie Formula 1 season as the Japanese racer placed inside the top seven in both sessions at the Yas Marina Circuit.
The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver ended an encouraging fifth in the morning, and although he slipped to seventh in the evening’s running, he was pleased with his day, and it gives him confidence for the rest of the weekend.
Tsunoda feels the opportunity to run in the young driver test in Abu Dhabi in 2020 prior to his Formula 1 debut has given him a boost heading into this weekend as it was not a completely new track to him, and although a few sectors have changed since 2020, he goes into the rest of the weekend aiming high.
“I’ve already driven here for the Young Driver Test last year and of course knowing the track beforehand always helps with my approach to the weekend, which hasn’t always been the case this season,” said Tsunoda.
“I’m really enjoying the new layout of this circuit, we’ve still got some things to work on but I think the pace so far is quite good. We’ve got a lot of data across the two cars, so we’re in a good position to continue to improve tomorrow.
“My aim is to get through to Q3 in Quali again, as we’re looking quite strong here and then our race pace is looking good also, so we just need to put it altogether when it counts.”
“We’ve got some work to do for tomorrow” – Pierre Gasly
Team-mate Pierre Gasly finished behind Tsunoda in both sessions, with the Frenchman admitting his AT-02 did not feel that strong around a lap of the new layout.
Gasly, who broke through the one-hundred-point mark in a season for the first time in his career by finishing sixth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last weekend, ended seventh fastest in the first session and only tenth in the second, and he knows there is work to do by the team overnight if he is to have a strong weekend.
“The layout is really different, it feels like a new track with a lot more high-speed corners, so it’s really cool,” said Gasly.
“We tried some different things with the car today, but I still haven’t felt that great, so we’ve got some work to do for tomorrow.”
Pierre Gasly was outpaced by Yuki Tsunoda in both sessions on Friday – Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd