Yuki Tsunoda has praised AlphaTauri’s efforts during the season as the continued development of the AT04 culminated in the Japanese driver leading his first laps in Formula 1.
Much like the majority of the field, Tsunoda, starting sixth, began the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the Medium compound.
But he was one of few to run longer on a one-stop strategy, which vaulted the Japanese driver to the head of the field where he remained for five tours until he pitted.
“I gave it everything,” said Tsunoda, who crossed the line in eighth after his tyres faded towards the end of his second stint.
“To be honest, I didn’t know I was leading the pack so I’m quite surprised about it.
“Looking back at the first half of the season, we never thought about leading the pack. So massive, massive improvement and without the team’s efforts we couldn’t achieve something like this.”
Tsunoda’s first laps led coincided with Team Principal Franz Tost’s last race in charge of the Red Bull junior team as he heads for retirement after 18 years with the outfit.
“The amount they [the team] pushed this year,” Tsunoda continued. “Almost every race we’ve had an upgrade.
“It was crazy and they deserved it. And then also, you know, I couldn’t give the biggest gift to Franz but at least, hopefully, I gave it all and I showed at least in my performance an appreciation for him.”
Despite its best efforts, the Faenza squad was unable to pinch seventh in the Constructors’ away from Williams, finishing three points shy as the curtain falls on 2023.
When asked if the outcome could have been any different, the 23-year-old said: “Obviously, there’s a couple of regrets. There are bits here and there, especially Mexico, but I think [that’s] motorsports.”
The AlphaTauri driver had been on for a strong points result in Mexico City, but the opportunity was lost when he was involved in a clumsy coming together with Oscar Piastri.
“What I did there was my biggest mistake of the whole season and I have to learn from it,” he acknowledged. “But also there I tried it. I was P8. If I finished P8, still it’s not enough to be P7 anyway. So I tried it at least and yeah, I don’t have many regrets there.”
A late flurry of upgrades saw the AT04 grow closer in identity to Red Bull’s RB19 as the sister teams look to strengthen their partnership ahead of the upcoming seasons.
AlphaTauri’s aggressive upgrade programme reaped its rewards in the final five rounds, in which a 20-point haul saw the team jump from 10th up to eighth in the standings.
In Abu Dhabi, AlphaTauri debuted a new floor in an effort to overtake Williams in the standings, and to get a glimpse at its progress heading into 2024.
“I think what we’ve done in Abu Dhabi and the upgrades was the kind of if these upgrades work, it’s a good sign for next year as well,” Tsunoda said about carrying the late season momentum into 2024.
“So at least we got some positives and also good data as well. So we keep on continuing what we’ve done.
“Obviously not enough yet, but I know lots of things that are changing next year and hopefully that will give us a step forward.”
Great prospect… next year we will have a “PinkBull” as well, so places one to four are allocated. I’ll definitely switch to Indy ….