Tsunoda among the protagonists of Austin
Among the biggest surprises that emerged in United States Grand Prix the performance of the AlphaTauri emerged there Yuki Tsunoda: the Japanese, as well as having concluded in points areahe was in fact surprised by the extra point resulting from his signature on the fastest lap of the race in 1:38.139. Just as happened for Logan Sargeant, who scored his first career point, this is also a ‘first time’ for the Japanese driver, this time relating to the best time in a Formula 1 race.
The scare at the end
Tsunoda, who had finished in 10th place, then found himself in eighth position after the disqualifications inflicted on Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, both excluded from the classification due to the irregular surface of their cars. As a result, with a total of 5 points wonthe Japanese at the same time allows AlphaTauri to recover also in the Constructors’ World Championship, which now sees the Faenza company still at the bottom but just 2 points behind Haasoutside the top-10 with both Hülkenberg and Magnussen: “It was a good race for me and I’m happy – commented – scoring points here three times in a row is fantastic, especially in front of the Austin fans. Excellent work and congratulations to the team. Everyone in the factory, in Faenza and Bicester, and on the track, is working very hard, and it is Nice to see that the updates made seem to be working well, and we are closing the gap to fight for P10. We were a bit lucky with Alonso at the end, but we maximized the performance because if we hadn’t driven there, we wouldn’t have been able to take advantage and score points. At the start I had a heart attack when the team called me to the garage because I thought there was a problem, but they told me we were doing the fastest lap on the soft tire. It was my first experience of a fast lap on the last lap of the race and I had a lot of fun, it was exciting. Now we will focus and continue to carry this momentum into the final races of this season.”
Ricciardo’s return
There was also great anticipation for the official return of Daniel Ricciardo, who returned to the wheel of the AlphaTauri after the injury suffered in free practice for the Dutch Grand Prix. However, the Australian finished in 15th place, finishing last among the riders who reached the finish line: “Texas hasn’t been too kind – commented – at first we were doing well with our plan but the problem was that once the cars with the blue flags came up behind us, we lost too much. It looked like we were struggling in traffic and then had some damage afterwards, so we were lacking pace. With the medium compound we did the same times as Yuki, but since I only made one stop, I managed the tires better. Physically I feel better today compared to yesterday, so the Sprint race was a good warm-up for the Grand Prix. I did more kilometers in the race and there is a lot to learn from this race, so now we attack for Mexico.”
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