Yuki Tsunoda acknowledges that he must make fewer mistakes on the track if he is to become a team leader at AlphaTauri.
In 2023, Tsunoda will be the most experienced Formula 1 driver at AlphaTauri, contesting his third year with the Red Bull sister team.
He will be joined by Nyck de Vries, who replaces the Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly.
Despite being five years younger than de Vries, Tsunoda boasts more F1 experience than the Formula 2 and Formula E champion.
De Vries made his F1 debut last month at the Italian Grand Prix, with his impressive outing accelerating his promotion to F1
Tsunoda admits that should he be expected to lead the team in 2023, he will need to make improvements to his form.
“I think I have to learn lots of things still in, in the rest of [the 2022] races, from Pierre, for example,” Tsunoda said.
“And for sure the kind of mistakes I did in Singapore [where he crashed out of the race] have to definitely reduce, and lots of things for example, penalties, whatever.
“Also those things is unnecessary. So those things definitely have to improve but at the same time, the pace, especially one lap, I’m quite happy and having good progress so far.
“So, I’ll just keep like this momentum until the next year. And yeah, just for the race, I think just experience more.
“Definitely, I have to get good back into the normal rhythm or good rhythm, like I had the first half of the season.
“I think still learning, lots of things lots of things to learn but I seem to have quite good confidence to do that.”
Tsunoda’s temperament has been called into question on occasion, as he is known to be outspoken over the team radio amid a frustrating situation.
The 22-year-old picked up his fifth reprimand of the year in Zandvoort, which resulted in a 10-place grid penalty for the following race weekend at Monza.
I like Tsunoda, he’s a proper character, combining the usual Japanese politeness with a fiery personality which seems to kick in totally randomly. He has shown himself worthy of a Formula One drive, and I reckon he’ll be around for a good few years yet.