Yuki Tsunoda believed there were “positive” things to take from his Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, despite setting an unenviable record for a Red Bull driver.
The Japanese finished 17th at the Hungaroring, completing the longest-ever streak without points scored by a driver for the team in its 20-year history.
Tsunoda was unable to work his way through the field, having started from the pitlane, and sustaining damage during the race condemned him to another miserable outing.
It rubberstamped a torrid weekend for the Milton Keynes-based squad, with Max Verstappen managing only ninth place from seventh on the grid.
But Tsunoda was able to see the bright side from a personal perspective, given that he massively closed the gap to Verstappen, his Q1 time only just over a tenth shy of his team-mate.
“Obviously, as a team, we struggled this weekend,” Tsunoda told media including Motorsport Week after the race.
“So, even though I was one tenth behind, I couldn’t go to Q2. So, on paper, it doesn’t look good, but at the same time, I think what I’m doing so far is positive.”
The smaller deficit signalled an upwards trajectory for Tsunoda, having been around half-a-second off Verstappen in previous rounds, such as at Spa the week before.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s positive, and it’s showing that I’m making progress,” Tsunoda added.
“After I introduced the package much closer to Max, if you see on the paper – on the short runs especially – it’s quite clear that I’m closing the gap to Max.
“Yesterday [Saturday qualifying] was probably one of the closest gaps in the last four years, which I think the team was proud of, and I think I can be proud of that. So I’ll just keep what I’m doing.”
Tsunoda rues poor Red Bull ‘baseline pace’
Whilst Tsunoda was able to take a small personal win from the weekend, there was no doubt that the overall Red Bull performance was, by its own high standards, poor.
He rued the comparatively slow pace of the RB21 around the Hungaroring, and given the 16th place grid slot, there was little he could do to perform a damage limitation job.
“The baseline pace was already [a real struggle for the] team,” he conceded. “And on top of it, having damage was not ideal at all. Yep, pretty much the race was done with that.”
Tsunoda acknowledged that, in real time, there isn’t much of an opportunity to relax with the Dutch Grand Prix approaching at the end of the month, and indicated his faith that the team can provide a positive second half of the campaign.
“Obviously, there’s not much time to rest,” he added. “It was a bit surprising the amount of pace we didn’t have in the last race [and] for the first half of the season.
“But at the same time, the fields are very, very tight.
“I think in terms of the package Red Bull [has brought] so far, it’s impressively good. The amount of stuff they’ve done in the first half of the season… is incredible.
“So I hope we can continue with that [after the summer break].”
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