Tsunoda 'Gave It Everything' In Last Race For His Team Principal Franz Tost

Monday, 27 November 2023 at 20:00

AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda reflected on his performance during the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit.

After out-qualifying his teammate and multiple other top-tier drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, Tsunoda started the race in Abu Dhabi from sixth place on the grid.

AlphaTauri F1 team went into the race in Abu Dhabi with a point gap to Williams in seventh place in the Constructors' Championship, and the Japanese driver wanted to give it his all to help his team snatch that seventh place.

As one of the only two drivers on the grid, Yuki Tsunoda went for the risky strategy of stopping only once during the race. While he drove a fantastic race, in the end, he was only fast enough for P7. He told the media after the race:

"I gave it everything. 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."

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The 23-year-old applauded his team for making great progress with the AlphaTauri car. The team's CEO Peter Bayer, suggested recently the team will be moving closer to Red Bull.

AlphaTauri has already been testing various car components for the next season, for example, the new floor in Abu Dhabi getting faster with every upgrade, and the future of the team seems quite promising at the moment.

"So [a] massive, massive improvement and almost every race this year we've had upgrades, it's crazy and they deserve it.'

The long-term team principal of AlphaTauri, Franz Tost, is retiring after last weekend's last race of the season, and Tsunoda gave him a nice goodbye in the form of the perfect performance in Abu Dhabi. The Japanese driver added:

"I wasn't able to give the biggest gift to Franz [P7 in the Constructors' Championship], but I gave it all, and I showed at least my performance as appreciation for him."