Probably There’s No Need Now, but the Reflection on Yuki Tsunoda’s 2021
At first, I wanna say huge thanks to the hero who translated this article.
Thankyou for all of your hard work, Mio!! You are the legend!!
(his Twitter: @MioCharlesF1)
original article (Japanese) : あえて今、角田裕毅の2021年振り返り｜K｜note
0. Introduction
Originally, I was thinking about writing about the 2022 season for Yuki Tsunoda, who is an F1 driver I support, and my view for the 2023 season.
But as I was writing, I came to wonder if I needed to look back on his rookie season to speak about him. And then, I wrote a lot about it, and it resulted in not managing to write about the 2022 season for him, as well as my view for the 2023 season.
I wrote too long, but if you’d like, read it to kill time.
1.How Was the 2021 Season for Him Seen??
In the prior year(2020), he finished P3 in the drivers’ championship for F2 in spite of being rookie. 2021 was the first year as the first Japanese F1 driver in 7 years since Kamui Kobayashi. His striking performance in F2 made the expectation very high.
2.What Was It Like?
(1)Struggle, and the Factors for That.
I would say he struggled a lot that season. The situation that he was beaten by his teammate Pierre Gasly kept on going.
It was the harsh result, but it was also because there were a couple of differences to the regular season mentioned below because of the covid.
Pre-season Test Was Shortened.
It resulted in the lack of time to learn the machine for the drivers, especially the rookie.
The New Regulation Was postponed for 2022, Which Means That the Machine Was Basically an Updated Version of the 2020 One.
At the beginning, there was a difference in the knowledge of the machine between the drivers that remained in the team from the previous season and the ones that transferred to the team from the previous season.
Under this circumstance, it’s very difficult for the rookie to make up the difference in experience, and looking back, I feel that that season could have been used for getting used to F1 and gaining experience. However, it is drivers’ instinct that they try to beat other rivals once they are fitted in the seat and go out on the track, which is totally normal.
As a result, for Tsunoda, who has a very strong instinct of this and stepped up the feeder series in a flash with this competitive spirit, his characteristic influenced him in the opposite way.
(2)The Irritation at the Beginning and the Confidence Gone Down
As a result of trying too much to beat his strong teammate Pierre Gasly, he made 5 crashes in the FP and the qualifying only in the first half, starting with the one during the quali in the 2nd round Emilia Romagna (Imola). Also, his intense radio message, like "Guys, it's **** paradise!! like traffic paradise!! What is this one!?" were talked about.
(“Traffic paradise” is now the phrase that represents him, and it’s used in the commentary for F2 and F3. Also Bottas used it, and it became popular. I also love it lol)
In the first round, he made a brilliant debut that matched the high reputation for him, making many overtakes against the champions and scoring points. But after, he struggled as mentioned before, and he could not make up the difference to his teammate. As heading to the middle of the season, his face during the interview was not so bright, and it could be understood that he lost confidence. Tsunoda himself said “The confidence went to the bottom,” looking back on that time.
But, as a fan, it’s true that he made many mistakes, but on the other hand, he finished the race in P7 and was qualified to Q3 in the qualifying in the difficult circuit, the city of Baku, which was the first time for him that year. In Austria, which he is fond of, he showed a hot lap that was only tenths second down to his teammate Gasly. In Silverstone, he scored points with the best pace in the midfield at the end of the race. Like this, I could see the pace he had.
(3)At the Bottom in the Mid-Season, the Support from others
For this reason, it was hard to see him lose confidence and show the driving that was way worse than his capability. He is originally a driver that overtakes the car in front with the stunning pace and the aggressiveness come from his confidence. After moving to Europe, he stepped up to F1 in a very short time, and he faced a huge problem.
Yet, he tried so hard to seize the opportunity to get better little by little with the team. First, he tried to change the approach of trying to give everything from the beginning of the FP and the qualifying, which was the factor of many mistakes he made in the first half of the season.
The capability of setting a fast lap from the beginning of the weekend is his strong point and one of the factors that stepped him up to F1, but F1 has a longer practice session than F2 and F3 for a race, which is why there are many things to do, such as setting the car and the check of the car. Therefore, there’s no need for the maximum pace from the beginning. And, it is important to make the car, picking up the pace little by little.
He tried this approach little by little from the end of the first half of the season, and as a result of making it his own, he stopped making a crash in the FP and the qualifying. In addition, the hot lap got better and better, which was the major reason for the comeback at the end of the season.
Another thing that helped him get better was his mentor at that time, Alex Albon (Williams). Red Bull sent him to support Tsunoda, who was going down. He drove in Red Bull for one and a half years from the second half of 2019 to the end of 2020, but he was at the race as a reserve driver in 2021.
Because of his experience of struggling that came from driving along with Max Verstappen, Albon was a big support for Tsunoda. The 16th round in Turkey and onwards, he was in AlphaTauri’s pit and supported Tsunoda, giving him advice. After the race at Abu Dhabi, which I will mention later, he was seen to come to celebrate Tsunoda from Red Bull’s pit going crazyat that time. (Albon, such a nice guy!!)
(4)Brought Back the Potential in the End of the Season, Signs Were Seen
Changing the approach, the support from the mentor, the change of the chassis in Turkey, etc. AlphaTauri, which has the experience of training Red Bull junior drivers, was a big support for Tsunoda. And Tsunoda himself began to show his genuine potential little by little.
As in previous years, the Turkish GP was held as an alternative to the Japanese GP at Suzuka, which was cancelled due to the covid. He drove the machine that was the special edition of the farewell for Honda with “Arigato” on the rear wing, and he was qualified for Q3 for the first time in a while. In the race, he held up the 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) for 8 laps in such difficult wet condition. After the race, he said “I want Max (Verstappen) to win the championship, so I thought to hold up Hamilton, who is his rival.” (However, I think it’s difficult to hold him up even if he wants to…)
In the next race, the US Grand Prix in Austin, he was qualified to Q3. In the race, he finished in P9 and scored points for the first time in 6 races since the Hungarian Grand Prix with aggressive driving, overtaking his teammate Gasly in the start. He was getting better and better.
Even though he didn’t manage to finish in the points from the 18th round the Mexican Grand Prix to the 21st round the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, he was qualified to Q3 in all the races except the Brazilian Grand Prix, which had the sprint race. In Saudi Arabia, he was qualified to Q3 in the medium for the first time. It should be noted here that all six races after the Turkish GP were completely new circuits for Tsunoda. Tsunoda, who stepped up to F1 unusually fast, showed his adaptability which is his greatest characteristic.
(5)he Final Race in Abu Dhabi, Pierre Gasly, a Barrier to Crack.
Tsunoda was getting better and better. And then came that “legendary” race, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.(Maybe “legendary” refers to the final lap among the F1 fans, but for me, it refers to the performance that Yuki Tsunoda showed for the whole weekend there. I am not sure if there are people who call it that.)
Tsunoda was getting better and better, overcoming various difficulties so far. However, there was a hurdle that he hadn’t got over yet.
It was to outqualify his teammate Gasly “in the qualifying.” After 21 races, the result of the qualifying was 21-0 for Gasly. He hadn’t managed to outqualify Gasly yet, not even once.
In this season of the 2021, Gasly was having the year that could be said his best with the team.
Even if only the qualifying is seen, he was qualified to Q3 18 times with 6-time top 6 finish. Through the season, his performance was almost perfect, and he was a very strong driver that the rookie drove along with.
(6)The Qualifying in Abu Dhabi, the Moment Has Come.
As mentioned earlier, Tsunoda made many crashes because of trying too hard to get closer to Gasly in the beginning. However, after that, he watched Gasly, stole and adapted the way he worked as an F1 driver, and turned it into his own strength with his natural flexibility. That change worked, and as the season went on, the difference between him and Gasly got smaller and smaller. In the race before Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, he was outqualifying Gasly until Q2, but he didn’t manage to do it in Q3.
And now the final round, Abu Dhabi. Even though the circuit was modified a little bit this year, it was one of the few circuits on which he drove an Formula 1 car, as he did the test there in prior year. How would he perform in the circuit that he has experienced in a Formula 1 car when he is performing well even in the circuit that he has never driven before? The answer was simple and clear. For the first time in that season, he outqualified Gasly in all the sessions from FP1 to FP3. I was thinking “Would he finally win against Gasly?” with hope, and the qualifying was about to start. The moment has come. After the final hot lap in Q2, Tsunoda was qualified to Q3 in P8, while Gasly was eliminated in P12. It was the moment that he outqualified his teammate for the first time since the debut to F1. (I screamed from joy at that time.)
Speaking of which, both Red Bull used the soft and were qualified to Q3, which means only three cars, both Mercedes and Tsunoda, were qualified to Q3 with the medium. He did a huge job.
In Q3, it was unfortunate for him that his good lap time was deleted because of exceeding the track limits, but he got P8. Tsunoda himself reflected on this qualifying and said “It was the best qualifying in the season.”
(7)The Race in Abu Dhabi, and It Became a Legendary One…
After one night from the qualifying in which he showed his best performance in the season, he finally got his last race of his rookie year. In this race, the focus of the whole world was the fight for the championship. All eyes were on the outcome of the battle between the young genius Verstappen and the absolute champion Hamilton, who entered the final race tied after a fierce battle.
Meanwhile, Tsunoda started from P8. In the first lap, he overtook Bottas(Mercedes at that time) and moved up to P7. After that, he drove with good pace and managed to hold up Bottas for the whole first stint. He was overtaken by Bottas during the pit stop, but his race was solid after changing the tyres to the hard.
However, the VSC was deployed in the middle of the race. Alonso, who was staying out for a long time as he started the race in the hard, and his teammate Gasly got advantage of it and closed in behind him. He held up Alonso after the battle, but the gap to his strong teammate that had fresh tires was getting smaller and smaller. From then on, he started a heated time attack battle with his teammate that he had never won against for the whole year. Gasly set his best lap, and then Tsunoda did the same. The difference of the tyres taken into account, Tsunoda’s pace was even or better than Gasly’s.
And in lap 53, “the moment,” which is too popular, has come. Latifi(Williams) crashed in sector 3, and the SC was deployed. Both AlphaTauri were called to box as there was an enough amount of gap behind. They changed the tyres to the soft and back into the line in P5 and P6. And then, the race restarted after the ending of SC before the final lap which was so controversial that FIA changed the rule later. While the battle which remains in history in front between Verstappen and Hamilton was going on, Tsunoda also showed the “legendary” drive.
He overtook Bottas, who had the old hard tyres, with his signature move, late breaking, and moved up to P4. And then, as he was about to get closer to Sainz in P3, he made a painful mistake with the gear change. He lost the pace on the straight, and instead Gasly, who also overtook Bottas, was getting closer. Gasly tried to overtake him from the outside in turn 9, but Tsunoda in front gave everything to defend his position. He nearly pushed Gasly out and defended his position. And he finished as it was in P4, and he got his best result in the final round of his rookie year.
He outqualified teammate that he has never won against for the whole year in all the sessions in the final round. For Tsunoda, that was a very meaningful race leading up to the following year.
A flying final lap of his F1 rookie season from @yukitsunoda07 - and it helped him to a P4 finish in Abu Dhabi 🚀👌#AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ImnihvYjCu
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 14, 2021
3.Thoughts on That Season
After the end of his rookie year, the result against his teammate was 1-21 in the qualifying and 32-110 in the classification. It could be said that he was completely defeated.
Yet, I think that the experience of learning a lot from his teammate, bringing back the confidence that once he completely lost, and keeping on going forward is a valuable asset that pushes him to a higher level of racer. During the season, he was criticised a lot because of a lot of mistakes and the language in the radio, but he managed to show his genuine potential after bringing back the confidence that once he lost by going forward with the support from others. After the end, it could be said that it was a good season.
I started supporting Tsunoda the year before this, after seeing his impressive performance in F2, and although I am just a fan, I have learnt a lot. Before that, I watched F1, but it was not like supporting a specific team or a driver, but it was more like enjoying watching the race because I like the race itself.
However, by focusing on Tsunoda, again I could learn how F1 is deep, harsh and fun. For example, I learnt that the amount of time of FP and the test for the rookie, that the build-up to the race weekends affects everything, and that the result against the teammate is important for the evaluation.
I learnt how painful and stressful it is when the driver I support doesn’t get a good result and that the joy is many, many times greater than the frustration when the hard work pays off.
Thanks to Tsunoda, I got an opportunity to know that I have many feelings lol. Also, he brought an opportunity to meet many people on social media. I know it is a typical phrase, but his driving brought some colours to my life. I had so many feelings through the season of 2021.
4.Conclusion
Did you like it? (Do I have to say it? lol)
At first I wanted to look back on this season, but I don’t know why, I started writing about 2021 and wrote that long…
I am kinda scared of myself, but the first note (the name of the service), I enjoyed it. I would be pleased if those who read this could kill time.
Next time, I’ll write about 2022 and my view for 2023!
Thank you for reading till the end!
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