AlphaTauri Team Principal Franz Tost has hailed Yuki Tsunoda’s “unbelievable” performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after he secured a season-best seventh-place finish.
Tsunoda started from seventh on the grid despite a crash in Q3 and avoided mishaps during the race to take home six championship points.
It marked the second time this year Tsunoda has taken a top 10 finish, as he added to his ninth-place result at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
“Yuki did a fantastic job, I must say,” Tost reflected. “OK, he had on Saturday a small incident, but it was in Q3. It can happen, it happened also to more experienced drivers.
“His race pace, sometimes was unbelievable, I was really worried that something [might] happen because he was really fast.
“He is in a very good way and I think that he will come up with some good results also in the second half of the season when he gets a little bit more experience, especially on race tracks that he knows.”
Tsunoda currently sits 14th in the Drivers’ Championship with eight points, 23 points behind team-mate Pierre Gasly, who took a podium finish at Baku.
Tost added that Tsunoda’s performance at the Azerbaijan event was even more impressive given it was his first time at the circuit in his racing career.
“He improved a lot, we must not forget that it is his first time in Baku,” Tost said.
“Of course in Bahrain, he scored two points when he finished ninth, but he knew the track quite well from Formula 2.
“We tested there, we could find a good set up. But we came here to Baku, he didn’t know the track and he immediately got quite familiar with it.
“He started from the seventh position and finished seventh. For me, a really fantastic job from his side, really fantastic performance.
“We have to work on some things, we know this, but I am confident that we get everything together because he is a super talent.”
