Yuki Tsunoda has managed simply 10 factors as Max Verstappen’s team-mate to this point this 12 months as Pink Bull proceed to scratch their heads over what to do with their second F1 seat
Now that Max Verstappen has dedicated his instant future to Pink Bull, new workforce boss Laurent Mekies has made it his “precedence” to get team-mate Yuki Tsunoda firing. The outfit’s second seat has been an issue for years now with one driver after one other struggling within the Dutchman’s shadow.
Daniel Ricciardo was the workforce chief at Pink Bull till Verstappen established himself shortly as a young person. After the Australian selected to depart on the finish of the 2018 marketing campaign, Christian Horner selected to raise Pierre Gasly to start what would grow to be a string of failed appointments.
The Frenchman was demoted after simply half a season as he buckled below the strain. Alex Albon changed him and lasted 18 months, however he was proven the door on the finish of 2020 when the extra skilled Sergio Perez turned out there.
The Mexican received 5 races with the workforce and completed second behind Verstappen within the 2023 season, marking Pink Bull’s first and solely one-two championship end. However he was axed on the finish of final 12 months following a winless season wherein his kind deteriorated badly.
And issues have been even worse to this point this time period. Liam Lawson raced simply twice for the workforce earlier than he was swapped out with Tsunoda, who has managed simply 10 factors since being elevated into the highest Pink Bull workforce after 4 years at sister outfit Racing Bulls.
His need to finish the primary part of the season on a excessive was not rewarded on the Hungarian Grand Prix. Qualifying has been an actual wrestle all 12 months and he suffered one other Q1 exit, earlier than ending the race seventeenth and a good distance off the factors.
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“The precedence is to present Yuki what he must carry out,” stated Mekies, who changed Horner final month, of his under-pressure Japanese driver. “That’s the place, with reference to the second seat, that’s the place the precedence is. It’s what the workforce is targeting.
“They’ve been attempting that for quite a few races now. We’re looking for methods collectively to make an extra step. , Spa was very constructive, actually from that perspective. Right here it’s a little bit of a difficult weekend general, so it’s in all probability a bit harder to guage. However there isn’t any motive why Yuki’s efficiency can’t be what we’ve got seen previously.”
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It’s understood Tsunoda isn’t vulnerable to being changed throughout this season with Pink Bull decided to present the 25-year-old on a regular basis they’ll to make it work. “Our driver analysis historically takes place after the summer season break – in the mean time, all the things is open,” stated workforce adviser Helmut Marko.
And the Austrian went on so as to add that he’s inspired by Tsunoda’s progress, even when the factors are nonetheless not flowing. He stated: “He was as close to as by no means earlier than, one-tenth he was behind [Verstappen in Q1 at the Hungaroring]. Sadly, he was dropped out in Q1, [but] he’s shifting up.”
