Tsunoda Receives Apology From Former F1 Driver Who Doubted Him

Saturday, 13 April 2024 at 16:30

Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok apologized to Yuki Tsunoda after the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix for previously suggesting he shouldn't have been a part of RB's lineup for this season.

RB, formerly AlphaTauri, had four different drivers in their two seats during the 2023 season. The team started with Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda.

However, due to insufficient performance, the Dutch rookie was later replaced by Daniel Ricciardo, who later suffered an injury, which opened the door for Liam Lawson.

Lawson sat in the AlphaTauri car for five races and clearly outperformed Tsunoda. Despite all his efforts, the team left Lawson on the sidelines and went with the Tsunoda-Ricciardo pairing for this season.

Multiple pundits questioned this decision, including Sky Sports' Karun Chandhok, who suggested that RB should have chosen the Ricciardo-Lawson pairing instead.

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Tsunoda had to prove everyone wrong going into the 2024 season, and he did. After the first four race weekends, he is beating his teammate 4-0 in qualifying and 3-1 in race results comparison.

The Japanese driver is also the only driver this season to score points for RB, and thanks to his incredible performances in Australia and Japan, the team is standing sixth in the Championship.

"My apology to Yuki Tsunoda over the Australian Grand Prix weekend was the right thing to do. I said last year that they should have signed Liam Lawson and Daniel Ricciardo, and have Yuki as reserve. He's, to my delight actually, proving me wrong, because he was superb all weekend."

As it stands, the majority of fans and F1 pundits now suggest the optimal driver pairing for the RB team would be Tsunoda and Lawson (who is currently a reserve driver).

The 23-year-old's incredible performance puts Ricciardo under pressure, and it is up to Honey Badger to show that RB didn't make a wrong choice when they decided to sign him for 2024.