Yuki Tsunoda believes one F1 rival are ‘hiding performance’ during Bahrain test

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Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda believes that Formula 1 rivals Williams were hiding some of their top performance during the first day of testing in Bahrain.

There was plenty of anticipation to see how the newly-named RB team – also known as V-CARB – would fare given their closer ties with the partner Red Bull team.

Speaking to the press after his first full day in the car – via The Race – Tsunoda gave his first impression of the other teams on the grid.

Tsunoda believes Williams are hiding performance in testing

The longer the same regulations are in place in Formula 1, the closer teams tend to get in terms of overall pace.

Considering the 2023 season was the closest from back to front in recent memory, we should be in store for some fantastic races this year.

Those close battles might be happening behind the Red Bulls who once again looked supremely quick despite the relatively big changes they’ve made to the RB20 compared to the RB19.

However, the midfield battle is set to hot up, with RB looking quick and several of their rivals also developing plenty of new parts and ideas.

The one team who would have been slightly disappointed with their first day of running on Wednesday would be Williams.

Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant completed the fewest laps of any team, with both drivers suffering issues during their sessions.

However, Yuki Tsunoda believes that Williams have been hiding something during testing so far.

That may be because they waited until the very last second to run their car for the first time.

It could also be due to the fact they’re not 100% confident in the reliability of the FW46.

Tsunoda gives verdict on RB rivals

Asked about how he thought the rest of the grid fared, Tsunoda said: “Apart from Red Bull, Aston seems OK, Ferrari as well; I don’t know about McLaren.

“If I look in the midfield it feels like Williams are hiding performance a little bit.

“Other than that, we are not in a bad place in the midfield fight. We can hopefully continue like this.

“If we are around the top of the midfield and we can achieve this in the first race, I think that’s a really good start.”

Williams will hope that Tsunoda’s right and that they have more to show in testing.

Team principal James Vowles has already said that Sargeant needs to be the ‘surprise of the season’ this year after they made a late decision to retain him.

There is also a focus on their future driver line-up as they’re big fans of Carlos Sainz who will be leaving Ferrari at the end of the season.

That puts immediate pressure on their current pairing, particularly Sargeant with Albon already signed up until the end of 2025 according to Vowles.