F1 journalist says 23-year-old driver has surprised engineers with how much he’s improved this season

Formula 1 journalist Lawrence Barretto has said that engineers are surprised by how much faster Yuki Tsunoda is this season.

Speaking on the Formula 1 Preview Show, Barretto was discussing AlphaTauri’s current predicament.

The team currently sit just a point above Williams at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship.

After five races they would have been hoping for better results, although the car hasn’t performed brilliantly.

Pierre Gasly moved on to join Alpine leaving an open seat in the team.

Red Bull had plenty of their junior drivers competing in Formula 2 last season.

Liam Lawson, Juri Vips, Ayumu Iwasa and Dennis Hauger were all fighting it out in F1’s premier feeder series.

However, none of them did enough to convince Helmut Marko they deserved a place in Formula 1.

Engineers shocked by Tsunoda improvement this season

Talking about the AlphaTauri team, Barretto said: “You talk about Yuki’s [Tsunoda] performance, Yuki has gone up two, three levels.

“You talk to the engineers and they are surprised by how much he’s taken a jump this year.

“That car is so difficult to drive, it’s been the worst car at some tracks this year, it’s not easy.”

Tsunoda has scored both of AlphaTauri’s points this season but has been very unlucky not to have more.

In the three races he’s finished outside of the top ten, he’s finished 11^th on each occasion.

He’s yet to be beaten by De Vries on a Sunday, while the Dutchman only out-qualified him in Miami.

Tsunoda hasn’t had much support from his teammate during races, with De Vries too frequently getting tangled up with other cars or the barriers.

The young Japanese driver isn’t quite ready to carry a team on his own.

However, Tsunoda will be encouraged that’s he impressing his engineers with his performances this season.

Promotion to the senior Red Bull team looks unlikely at this stage.

When one the team’s two senior drivers does eventually move on, he needs to make sure he’s in pole position to take that spot.