Daniel Ricciardo believes his Racing Bulls teammate Yuki Tsunoda has the ability to succeed in Formula 1 and believes the Japanese driver simply needs to prove himself when the opportunities that really matter come his way.
The Japanese driver has proven to be the benchmark for the Faenza team in 2024, his fourth season in F1, but was sidelined by Red Bull management, who considered Liam Lawson and Ricciardo – and not him – as options to replace Sergio Perez. However, in the last two seasons he has matured and achieved excellent results, despite the difficulties of 2023 due to an uncompetitive car.
Ricciardo now believes Tsunoda is seen more favorably than in the past, noting his growing maturity and consistency over the course of their year as teammates. “I think he’s getting the credit he deserves now,” Ricciardo said in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com.
“A lot of people probably still think about his first year, where he made a lot of mistakes: it seemed like he couldn’t really adapt to the top flight and everything was a bit too much for him. Gasly was constantly beating him, but then I remember in the second half of the year he started to do better than the Frenchman.”
“He’s definitely grown a lot in the last couple of years. So yeah, he’s fast. Do I respect him? Yeah, I respect him. He’s probably become a little more aware of his attitude. I think he’s doing a great job.”
Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Speaking about Tsunoda’s prospects of delivering results if he gets a race-winning car, Ricciardo said it was difficult to predict, but he thinks the Japanese driver just needs to make the most of his abilities. The Australian drew a comparison with Lando Norris’s 2021 win attempts and argued the Briton lacked the experience to pull it off.
“I think (Tsunoda) has grown a lot in the last few years and is showing really good pace and skill,” he added. “I think he’s showing more consistency now. You never know what will happen when you move to the next level and I also think of Lando in Monza. I won, he was second. The next race he was in pole position, he was leading. At that moment, however, Lewis’ (Hamilton) experience and composure allowed him to win the race, making Lando lose it. Maybe three years ago it was a bit too much for him”.
The Australian added: “What I mean is that you never know until you are in that position whether someone is really capable of winning. We are all fast, but when everyone is at the top, there are those who can still make difficult decisions and remain calm. Yuki will have to prove that in due time, but my answer is certainly not negative. I think he has the ability, but that depends on him.”
Gasly, who partnered Tsunoda at AlphaTauri in 2021-22, understood the Japanese driver’s frustration at being overlooked by Red Bull and said he had offered his former teammate some advice.
“I’ve always said that Yuki is very fast. I’ve seen it. He’s shown it in the last two seasons and he’ll continue to show it,” the Frenchman said. “So, of course, it can be quite frustrating. But I’ve spoken to him, we’ve talked about it and I know he wants more and feels he deserves more.”
“I’ve been in a similar position to him in the past and I said to him: ‘Keep doing what you’re doing, as long as you’re competitive, sooner or later you’ll be given the seat you deserve.’ But it’s not an easy position to be in. Personally, I would have liked him to have had a chance at Red Bull, but I’m not Helmut Marko.”
Additional information by Oleg Karpov
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