Damon Hill suggests 23-year-old F1 driver needs to be more like Fernando Alonso

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Damon Hill has suggested that AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda needs to stop being so harsh on himself.

Hill was speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast after a fantastic weekend of racing in Austin.

The United States Grand Prix was the first in a triple header of races as the 2023 season comes to a close.

Below Max Verstappen, there’s plenty still to fight for, although Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc will be frustrated after their disqualifications on Sunday.

With both drivers dropping out of the points, it promoted several drivers up the standings.

Williams driver Logan Sargeant scored his first point in Formula 1 on his 18^th attempt.

It also meant Yuki Tsunoda moved up to eighth place to go alongside the first fastest lap of his career.

Damon Hill has admitted that Tsunoda needs to have more confidence in himself, especially as he’s survived the AlphaTauri merry-go-round for more than 50 races at this point.

He admits the Japanese driver can be too self-deprecating at times and has told him he needs to take inspiration from a much more experienced driver on the grid.

Hill says AlphaTauri driver Tsunoda is too harsh on himself

Described on the podcast by the Chairman of the FIA stewards Tim Mayer as ‘underrated’, Damon Hill added: “Getting back to Yuki [Tsunoda], he’s a little bit too hard on himself.

“His pace is there, his pace is good, but it’s that kind of suggestion that he himself doesn’t think that he’s good enough.

“It comes out sometimes, that’s how it comes across. I don’t know how you change that attitude.

“He’s very open and honest about his failings and sometimes you want to go, ‘Look, I don’t think Fernando Alonso, even if he had any failings, would be admitting to them’.

“Sometimes you need to just put a little bit of a protective wall around yourself rather than open yourself up to criticism.”

Tsunoda opened up last month on what he heard from sister team Red Bull regarding his future in the sport.

With Sergio Perez struggling right now, the seat alongside Verstappen is being discussed more and more.

Tsunoda’s performances for AlphaTauri haven’t seen him enter the conversation too often, but as Hill says, maybe he needs to start talking himself up more to give Christian Horner something to think about.

His aim for the rest of the season has to be to outperform his more experienced teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

He’s ahead of him on a head-to-head so far, although the Australian might not be fully fit yet following the injury he sustained at Zandvoort.