Tsunoda Feels 'Quite High Chance' He Would Overtake Hamilton If He Didn't Face Car Issues

Tuesday, 07 November 2023 at 11:00

AlphaTauri F1 driver Yuki Tsunoda reflected on the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sunday race at Interlagos Circuit.

Yuki Tsunoda did not have the best starting position for the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The 23-year-old had to start from the 16th place on the grid after unsuccessful qualification on Friday.

However, he was able to avoid a big crash at the start, which basically put four drivers out of the race. Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen crashed and could not continue.

And then Oscar Piastri and Tsunoda's teammate Daniel Ricciardo had to go and fix their cars, which set them back one lap behind everybody.

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Even though he encountered some problems on the way, Tsunoda managed to cross the line in the final P9 position, bringing home two more valuable points for his team. As reported by planetf1.com, the Japanese driver said after the race:

"Definitely I could have done more, but yeah, sorry for the team. Also in the end I wasn’t able to push [to the] maximum for several reasons."

In the end, the 23-year-old driver moved up seven positions throughout the race which is a decent result that he might not have anticipated before the race.

"But yeah, overall, I mean, P16 to P9 is still good. Well done to the team, I think it’s also unfortunate for Daniel that he had also been off on his side, we would have scored points."

The Japanese driver did not want to reveal the problems that made him slower during the race. He said: "I can’t say specifically for this one, but it’s quite a lot."

After being asked to name drivers that he would be able to overtake without issues on his car, Tsunoda responded: "Lewis maybe, other than that, I don’t know about Pierre, but Lewis, quite a high chance."

Overall, the AlphaTauri driver helped his team close the gap on Williams in the Constructors' Championship to only seven points after the Sprint Race weekend in Sao Paulo with two races remaining in the season.