Red Bull has relocated Yuki Tsunoda from the United Kingdom to Italy in a bid to get the Japanese’s rookie season back on track.
Tsunoda previously lived in Milton Keynes – where the company bases its junior drivers – but the decision was made during the Monaco GP weekend for him to move closer to AlphaTauri’s base in Faenza, Italy.
Tsunoda revealed that he had been “asking from the beginning of the season to move to Italy and at first they said no”, but that the switch of residence has now happened.
Tsunoda scored ninth on his debut in Bahrain but has yet to add to his tally, having had low-key showings in Portugal and Barcelona, as well as weekend-defining crashes in Italy and Monaco.
“When I crashed in FP2 [in Monaco], it was not a good thing, and I think Red Bull was not happy at that,” said Tsunoda.
“We were talking to AlphaTauri that it’s good to have a little bit change for me as I think last three or four races I haven’t had good races.”
“And generally I like more Italy, their food is nice, the weather is much nicer, so yeah, for me everything’s positive. Hopefully this thing goes well, on my performance in the race.”
Tsunoda explained that his “whole day” when at Faenza has been scheduled by AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost, with gym sessions in the morning and regular engineering meetings.
He also been carrying out lessons in order to improve his English language skills.
“I think the engineering meetings especially make [me have] a good understanding to the car, that was really good preparation for this week,” he said.
“The gym sessions, the time [spent training was] much longer than usual, so hopefully I won’t be like a bodybuilder at the end of the year!”
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