Tsunoda finding his ‘samurai spirit’ at the Japanese GP as he continues to outperform Ricciardo

RB Formula 1 team CEO Peter Bayer has suggested that Yuki Tsunoda is “mentally” on a new level in 2024 as he outperforms veteran teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Tsunoda satisfying the home crowd

The Japanese Grand Prix saw Tsunoda finish 10th at his home race, thereby becoming the first driver since Kamui Kobayashi to score points at home event for a Japanese driver.

However, the season has brought success not only in terms of records but also in other races. The Japanese driver has also finished ahead of his teammate in three of the four races this season.

The only time Ricciardo finished ahead was during the Bahrain Grand Prix, when team orders were given out to allow the Australian to pass, resulting in some internal conflict.

Despite the early season disagreements within the Faenza-based team, Tsunoda seems to have left it behind, with Bayer congratulating him on his recent achievements in Japan.

As reported by Motorpsort.com, Bayer said:

“He said he went out with the samurai spirit.

“I think it was an amazing achievement for him in front of the home crowd and Honda.

“Somebody told me it is the first time [for a local driver] since 2012 when [Kamui] Kobayashi scored [points] in a Japanese GP, so a great achievement from Yuki, honestly.

“It was an immaculate drive from him, and he was managing the tyres when he had to, he was pushing when he had to. He had great support from the team with that pitstop. Overall very, very happy with him.”

Lightning work from the RB crew ⚡️

Their speedy efforts went a long way to securing a point for Yuki in Japan ?#F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/xO3VaUFKfd

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 7, 2024

Tsunoda constantly improving

Before the 2024 season, Tsunoda had only finished in the points 17 times with one consecutive point-scoring streak; the 23-year-old has now upped that to 19 times and scored successive points for the second time in his career at the Australian and Japanese Grand Prix.

The RB boss expressed his contentment with the former Japanese F4 champion’s driving, suggesting he has made “big progress.”

“That’s something that we’ve seen now at the last couple of races, and he has made such big progress mentally,” added Bayer.

“Over the winter he made amazing progress physically, but mentally he is on a different level now.

“He’s taking this up, and he’s taking actually energy from it, rather than being distracted. I think this was certainly a mega drive from him.”

Could RB catch the midfield battle?

RB currently sits sixth in the Constructors’ Championship on seven points, 26 points behind Aston Martin in fifth. However, Tsunoda has been tailgating Lance Stroll for most of the season, finishing just behind the Canadian in the Australian Grand Prix.

Despite Stroll being in a faster car, Tsunoda has outperformed the former Williams driver at every race this season. But Bayer has been quick to state that it was less about their pace and more about the Aston Martin man not getting “much out of their upgrade”.

“I have to be careful with that,” he commented. “Probably what helped us is that it seemed that initially, Lance didn’t get as much out of their upgrade as we initially thought.

“And we have been a bit better here than we thought because we were actually thinking this is not a track for us. Also, our new upgrade is probably more aiming towards the coming races.

“But I have to say that the team is honestly so focused on finding that hundredth here, a tenth here. It’s a massive effort where everyone’s fighting for it.

“And I think that it’s a homogeneous push, and that’s probably what allows us to sort of sniff into the top 10.

“What we felt, and that’s what we’re proud of to a certain extent—this was the first time we were in the top 10 based on race craft; it’s not because something happened or someone messed up.”

Featured image: Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images