In qualifying for the home round, Racing Bulls achieved a double top 10, enhanced by the seventh place achieved by Yuki Tsunoda ahead of one of the two Mercedes. The real news, however, is that this consistency of the Faenza team is starting to come as no surprise, because it is the fifth qualifying concluded in Q3 with at least one car in seven rounds, to which must also be added the second row obtained by Daniel Ricciardo in Miami sprint qualifying.
Already in free practice the Japanese had demonstrated that he was at ease on this track, so much so that he achieved third place in the second free practice session, suggesting how Racing Bulls could enter the fight for the last heat in qualifying.
Overall, however, the consistency shown in qualifying above all confirms the progress of the Italian team, also thanks to the recent updates introduced in the last races, including those brought to Suzuka which helped to find greater effectiveness in the slow corners. Furthermore, some technical innovations also arrived in Miami which contributed to the good performance from Imola.
Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team VCARB 01
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“The team gave me a good car since FP1 and I felt comfortable throughout the week. Without this aspect, I would not have been able to achieve this result with only one set of tires in Q2. I am very happy and I thank them”, explained Tsunoda at the end of qualifying, underlining how fundamental it was to manage to get through the second heat with only one set of soft tyres.
After overcoming the obstacle of Q1, in fact, in Q2 the Japanese took to the track six minutes from the end of the heat, immediately setting a time which, at that moment, earned him provisional second place, enough to be able to return to the pits and save a second set of new softs to exploit in Q3. A crucial aspect over the long distance, because the best time in the last heat, the one which led to seventh place on the starting grid, came precisely in the first attempt of Q3, the one which is usually completed with a used tire in case the pilot does not have enough trains.
The top ten is starting to come as no surprise given the path shown by the team in this first part of the world championship, but on the other hand Tsunoda admitted that he didn’t expect such a solid performance on the banks of the Santerno. Imola is a very technical track, where various elements must be put together: it’s not just the aerodynamic set-up that counts, particularly in medium and high-speed corners, but also the mechanical one, especially when it comes to attacking the curbs. During this first part of the championship, the Racing Bulls drivers never hid the fact that the VCARB 01 still has to grow in the fastest corners, those where, among other things, Ricciardo struggled with the old chassis and suffered a substantial gap from Tsunoda.
Imola Tsunoda-Russell qualifying telemetry comparison
Photo by: Gianluca D’Alessandro
This difficulty in the faster corners, such as the Piratella, also emerged in Imola, while in the slower corners, especially towards the Tosa, good potential emerged. “To be honest, I didn’t expect this performance from the car. Normally we struggle at high speeds, but compared to previous races we notice a big difference compared to the top five teams.”
“So, definitely something to understand well for the future, because moments like this, to be honest, I didn’t expect them. Maybe it’s because it’s the home race?”, added the Japanese.
Paradoxically, however, once he had a car capable of guaranteeing a certain type of performance in his hands, Tsunoda did not hide the fact that in Q3 he perhaps expected something more: “To be honest, from Q3 I expected a little more, I managed to put it all together, so I’m not entirely happy, but up until that point everything was great. So far it’s been a very solid weekend, now it’s about putting everything together and finishing the job on Sunday.”
Overall, the double top ten also means the first Q3 qualifying of the season for Ricciardo, who in other events had managed to hit the last heat, but only in the sprint sessions. In the “traditional” qualifications the Australian had come close to Q3 in Japan and China, but this time he was able to make it happen by bringing his Racing Bulls into the top ten. Ricciardo made no secret that Tsunoda found a better feeling from the first free practice sessions, unlike the Australian, who showed some more signs of fatigue, especially in the first sector.
Daniel Ricciardo, RB F1 Team VCARB 01
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Going to observe the partials, in fact, the majority of the gap between the two drivers of the Faenza team arises precisely in the opening intertime of the lap, in particular in the Tamburello sequence and at Villeneuve, where Tsunoda is able to bring 13 km/h more speed.
It is no coincidence that, during qualifying, the same track engineer remarked how Ricciardo lost several tenths both in braking at turn two, where the approach to bring a good average speed to the center of the corner is very important, and at Villeneuve. The Australian attempted to change his approach slightly during the tests, but the difference in performance was still marked, so much so that it cost around three tenths in favor of the Japanese, while Ricciardo was able to find something more in the Rivazza area.
On a track where track position counts, it plays a fundamental role, now Racing Bulls hopes to materialize and bring home other fundamental points for the constructors’ classification.
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