Tsunoda's Japan Performance 'On Par With' Verstappen And Alonso Says Marko

Wednesday, 10 April 2024 at 09:15

Red Bull's Helmut Marko praised Yuki Tsunoda after another superb performance during the fourth round of the season in his home country- Japan.

Yuki Tsunoda came to Japan under great pressure. During the previous race in Australia, he scored six points for his team and wanted to score more in front of his home crowd than anywhere else.

In qualifying, he outperformed his teammate Daniel Ricciardo and made it into Q3 for the third time in four races this season.

After the start of the race, he initially lost a few positions. However, he was crucially able to avoid a collision (between his teammate and Alex Albon) in turn 3 of Suzuka Circuit right on the first lap.

Unfortunately, Tsunoda was moved to P12 for the race restart, which put him on a back foot. Nevertheless, he didn't give up. He slowly climbed up the grid into P10 and was able to retain this position until he crossed the finish line.

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There wasn't really much more that the Japanese driver could do for the home crowd, as the top nine cars were all much faster. Nevertheless, this performance deserved praise from Helmut Marko after the race.

The 80-year-old pointed out how Tsunoda has improved and said, "Mistakes are a thing of the past." In his column for Speed Week, he even put Tsunoda's performance on the same level as Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.

"At the second start, Yuki then got off to a sensational start. His overtaking maneuvers were the show of the day. The fans were absolutely ecstatic."

"His weekend was on par with Max, Alonso, and Co. Flawless, a super performance under the pressure of his home race."

While it was previously suggested that Marko would not rate Tsunoda when it comes to battling for the second seat in Red Bull, the Japanese driver keeps giving him more and more reasons to change his mind.