AlphaTauri team thread 2021 - Pierre Gasly & Yuki Tsunoda

 

Red Bull's junior second fashion brand sister team is now in its second year of AlphaTauri guise, with a smart new car and an exciting driver line-up: Pierre Gasly flopped at the senior sister team, but rebuilt his reputation with a strong 2020, including a memorable maiden win at Monza; Yuki Tsunoda graduates from F2 following a meteoric rise through the junior ranks.  Who will come out on top this year?  Will either of them earn a spot at Red Bull Racing, or at another, more "indepedent" team?  Franz Tost expects Gasly to be the team leader with Tsunoda learning from him quickly.

 

 

 

 

This is our third year with Scuderia AlphaTauri 

https://www.gpblog.c...-f1-engine.html

 

 

He forgot to count

I like the look of this team. I imagine it's a bit better for rookies to have a more experienced driver to learn alongside.

I'll admit I don't follow any of the lower formula so I don't know anything about Tsunoda, but he looks about 12.

Tsunoda messed up his final Q2 run but his pace looked good beforehand - this could be a very interesting battle over the course of the season!

Tsunoda messed up his final Q2 run but his pace looked good beforehand - this could be a very interesting battle over the course of the season!

On the first run of q2 he was still two tenth behind despite Gasly having retardation issue.

The early part of the calendar will be easy on Yuki as he will race on well known tracks.

From Monaco onwards it will get a bit trickier for a few races.

Gazman continues to underwhelm me slightly in Q3. I think he should've been P4 today, but it's hard to legislate for Leclerc's wicked pace.

Yuki is just great. Pushing Gasly hard already, and has a really competitive attitude.

Gazman continues to underwhelm me slightly in Q3. I think he should've been P4 today, but it's hard to legislate for Leclerc's wicked pace.

Yuki is just great. Pushing Gasly hard already, and has a really competitive attitude.

 

Qualifying an Alpha Tauri 5th on merit underachieving? Then you are looking for something to complain about.

They were both really good, and Alpha's suspected pace after testing looks to be real. Tsunoda is such a driver and character.

Do we have our first real gold-plated Japanese super-star?   Let's hope so as it SO overdue.

Qualifying an Alpha Tauri 5th on merit underachieving? Then you are looking for something to complain about.

It was just something I noticed last season. Similarly, he is sometimes slower in Q3 than Q2/Q1.

A great performance, but keep an eye out for it this season.

Edited by TomNokoe, 27 March 2021 - 19:51.

It was just something I noticed last season. Similarly, he is sometimes slower in Q3 than Q2/Q1.

A great performance, but keep an eye out for it this season.

 

He is within half a second of his time last year, at a track where most are a second away... But I am a Gasly fanboy, so there is that.

Gazman continues to underwhelm me slightly in Q3. I think he should've been P4 today, but it's hard to legislate for Leclerc's wicked pace.

Yuki is just great. Pushing Gasly hard already, and has a really competitive attitude.

Pierre found 7 tenths between Q2 and Q3, that's more than anyone else except Max.

Do we have our first real gold-plated Japanese super-star?   Let's hope so as it SO overdue.

We can't be confident on performance/pace yet. But he brings excitement that's for sure! Will be rooting for him to do really well. 

Pierre found 7 tenths between Q2 and Q3, that's more than anyone else except Max.

Yeah, to be honest I've looked again and I think I got this one wrong. I wasn't paying enough attention to the Ferrari speed throughout Q1/Q2. Initially I thought Leclerc sneaked up on Gasly but that's not the case.

Pierre found 7 tenths between Q2 and Q3, that's more than anyone else except Max.

 

But to be fair. Pierre did Q2 on the medium tire. It's a slower tire. Only Hamilton, Bottas, and Max did the same.  The rest of the midfield used soft between Q2 and  Q3

Edited by ARTGP, 28 March 2021 - 00:58.

Tsunoda could be the type of driver where when everything works the peaks are very high, while when it doesn't the lows can be pretty low. A bit like Gasly tbh.

Edited by krapmeister, 28 March 2021 - 02:47.

Tsunoda was surprised by lack of grip from the mediums:

 

https://www.motorspo...ahrain/5941790/

 

He was very competitive on the softs. 

Edited by ARTGP, 28 March 2021 - 06:04.

Tsunoda could be the type of driver where when everything works the peaks are very high, while when it doesn't the lows can be pretty low. A bit like Gasly tbh.

You can't teach raw speed but you can get more consistent. Just look at any of the greats. They had tough times otherwise they'd have nothing to learn from.

Tsunoda could be the type of driver where when everything works the peaks are very high, while when it doesn't the lows can be pretty low. A bit like Gasly tbh.

It's his first race ffs, give Yuki some time. The potential is clearly there.

It's his first race ffs, give Yuki some time. The potential is clearly there.

 

Woah there buddy - yes I am aware it's his first race. I am not writing him off at all, notice I said *could be* not that he *is* or *will be*. He may even indeed become a great driver, or he may not - no doubt though he has shown flashes of speed so far though there's been many drivers that have shown potential and not lived up to it. But if he does become another 'Gasly' then that's not the end of the world, plenty of people rate Pierre and he has even won a Grand Prix 

 

Edited by krapmeister, 28 March 2021 - 10:02.

At this stage of development all he needs to do is show flashes of speed. He's absolutely doing that. I think he looks really promising.

Don't forget he's less experienced than the super professional rookies that usually come in. He's only had 2 years of racing in Europe. It's not like he's been recognised as a massive karting prodigy in the European scene, and being groomed to become an ultra pro superstar since his early teens, like your Leclercs Norrises and Russells. He's got more edges to trim and it'll take some time.

Edited by noikeee, 28 March 2021 - 10:24.

From watching F2 Tsunoda was always very good with how he treated his tyres on a long run, so I would expect (hope) Alpha Tauri will start him on hards and send him long into the race. I also noticed after a number of first lap incidents he adopted a more conservative approach to the first corner, so this being his first grand prix, I kind of expect him to lose positions on the first lap.

Alpha Tauri have a good chance to get a strong haul of points from the off with Gasly making the most of the car - I feel there’s no accounting for the pace Leclerc can drag out of that Ferrari. Top 5/6 should be Gasly’s aim and Tsunoda should just try to get into the points, if that’s Alpha Tauri’s result today I’m sure they will be thrilled.

A story on Pierre Gasly:

 

https://www.theplaye...mula-one-racing

Unfortunate for Gasly, I think it was just the slightest of misjudgments that caused him to lose his front wing, otherwise he probably would have been up there with Norris/Leclerc or Ricciardo/Sainz.

Pleased for Tsunoda to get his first points, he had a bad start, and ended up in a battling drive in the midfield, his onboard will be fun to watch later. He showed good pace in that Alpha Tauri often matching the Ferrari and the Mclarens in clear air so it looks like the pace is very much there in the car.

Should be a good season for the team, aim should he P5 in the constructors based off that weekend.

Good race from Tsunoda today. Really impressed....not Alesi at Ricard in 89 impressed but that was a really good debut. The car looks pretty fast too, results should come for both drivers.

https://m.youtube.co...eature=youtu.be - Tsunoda did get caught out by the absent Perez grid slot. If I recall it’s okay to reverse and correct the position, but he may have been saved by that aborted start.

9th place that featured quite a few passes seems like a darn impressive debut drive, on a track he's not raced on before, I believe?  Looking forward to more! 

AT car is on the sharp end of the midfield, Honda is bailing when they will have a genuine Japanese talent in the RB in a season or two and perhaps even the best PU.

Honda must reconsider.

Edited by Nobody, 29 March 2021 - 03:16.

9th place that featured quite a few passes seems like a darn impressive debut drive, on a track he's not raced on before, I believe?  Looking forward to more! 

 

His race pace was also good if not better than any midfielder bar Norris. What a shame to miss out on Q3 as he would have been fighting Norris. But good to still capture the points scoring debut narrative. 

I like Tsunoda. 

I think he has something to prove here.

Yuki's divebombs on Alonso and Stroll were seriously impressive. 

 

This kid has some serious racecraft and overtaking skills. 

Tsunoda already moved up in my estinmation after race one of his career. Clumsy move by Gasly.

9th place that featured quite a few passes seems like a darn impressive debut drive, on a track he's not raced on before, I believe?  Looking forward to more! 

Impressed with both Yuki's on track debut, and his skill when being interviewed. He projects calm and control in both. While I expect there will be a few bumps on the road ahead, I believe he will be a real asset to the AT team. 

Hope is bad start was just a one off

 

 

 

AlphaTauri plans upgrades for the next three races

AlphaTauri came out quite well during the winter test, but the opening race in Bahrain did not quite bring what the Italians had hoped for. Yuki Tsunoda did score the first points of the season for the small team, but Pierre Gasly soon saw his race be killed by a collision and a pit stop for a new nose. Yet people in Faenza do not give up. The stable has a great foundation with the powerful Honda V6 and technical director Jody Eggington expects aerodynamic upgrades to make the AT02 even more competitive. “We will have some new things in Imola, in Portugal and in Spain. We build it up step by step. But by the time we are in Spain (early May) we should have made a nice leap forward. ”

 

https://www.planetf1...-percent-honda/

 

AlphaTauri improvement ‘70% Honda 30% car’

AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost believes that his outfit’s strong pace can largely be attributed to the stronger Honda engine.

Pierre Gasly claimed P5 on the grid for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, and it seemed that a strong haul of points was there for the taking before a collision with Daniel Ricciardo wrecked the Frenchman’s race.

Yuki Tsunoda on his debut lost a few positions at the start, but with overtakes on the likes of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll worked his way back up to finish P9, securing points in his first outing.

“With Pierre the performance in qualifying was very good, it would almost became 4th place,” Tost reflected in conversation with SPEEDWEEK.com.

“For Yuki, we were wrong with the choice of tyres, he would have needed the option tyre [to make Q3], but on the other hand we did not want to have a discussion about different treatment or even a disadvantage.

“Pierre started well in the race, but the Safety Car after Nikita Mazepin’s accident hurt us a lot. His medium tyres took longer to reach temperature, so he was at a disadvantage compared to his immediate competitors on the soft compound and lost some places, which then also led to damage to the front wing. That was how his race was actually over.

“The most important thing for Yuki was to collect race kilometres. He did everything right, drove flawlessly. The ninth place was good, it could even have been a seventh or eighth. Pierre could have finished without the incident in P4 or P5, so we lost a lot of good points.”

Nonetheless, AlphaTauri take momentum into the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from the fact that they appear to be in that battle with McLaren and Ferrari at the front of the midfield pack.

Further up the grid Red Bull look set for a title battle with Mercedes, armed with an improved Honda engine that also powers AlphaTauri.

And Tost believes that the Japanese manufacturer’s gains actually account for “70%” of AlphaTauri’s positive step.

“There have been small advances in the chassis, but the main advantage comes from Honda with a much stronger engine,” he said.

“I would say 70 percent of the improvement goes to Honda, 30 percent to the car.”

 

Yuki seems very likeable, has a good sense of humour! 

Honda Racing F1

Making the step up to F1 for Yuki Tsunoda was far from an overnight event. We sat down with his Performance Coach,
Noel Carroll, who filled us in on the behind the scenes work that began between the two of them for the new season,
back in December of 2020.

https://honda.racing...a-gp-race-setup

Formula 1 Returns To Imola For Round Two

Toyoharu Tanabe
Honda Racing F1

    The opening round of the season produced encouraging results for both our teams with the Honda PU being fastest in all practice sessions, taking pole and then finishing second, fifth and ninth in the race. However, the Bahrain weekend was not entirely trouble-free, therefore we have been working hard with both teams in this relatively long break before Round 2 to analyse all the data and take countermeasures where required.

    Formula 1’s return to the Imola circuit last year proved very popular with drivers, viewers and fans and it produced an exciting race. It was a busy weekend, run over just two days as an experiment, but this year we return to the usual three-day format. The Scuderia AlphaTauri factory is just 15 kilometres from the track, making it their home race, which is a further reason why we at Honda and their team members will be highly motivated to have a strong weekend. Last year, qualifying went very well for them and Red Bull Racing, but the race result did not reflect their true potential, so this time we hope we can have a smooth weekend leading to an excellent performance on Sunday.

Yuki >>> ..........
Pierre >>> ..........
Sergio >>> ..........
Max >>> ..........

“The gearbox broke in half, so that’s finished,” said Egginton yesterday. “Power unit – we’re having a good look through now and see what’s gone on. And rear suspension, rear wing, et cetera, bodywork. But the chassis seems okay at the moment. So not too bad, but it’ll keep the mechanics busy tonight and tomorrow morning.”

 

https://www.racefans...earbox-in-half/

Yuki seems very likeable, has a good sense of humour!

I think he is quite funny. However, hearing his radio calls yesterday I couldn't shake the feeling this constant swearing will get old very quickly.

Was there not a press release over the Bahrain weekend where he was apologising for bad language and saying the usual he ‘needs to learn/work on’ it?

They were overshadowed by Ferrari and Mclaren this weekend. 

They took a bad gamble by putting Gasly on the wets. That can happen but what really was damaging was that they kept Gasly out far too long, in the end he still drove superbly to score points. Tsunoda had good race pace but he threw a potential points scoring out of the window himself. A lost opportunity for the team today, sadly at a track very close to their home base.

The tyre risk would have been understandable for Tsunoda but not for Gasly.

Yuki got his 3th CE and ES, two are allowed. Did he get a penalty for that? I only heard he got a 5 place grid penalty for a new gearbox.

Yuki got his 3th CE and ES, two are allowed. Did he get a penalty for that? I only heard he got a 5 place grid penalty for a new gearbox.

He was at the back of the grid anyway so it didn't matter much I guess

He was at the back of the grid anyway so it didn't matter much I guess

I do assume that he has already had those penalties in Imola, but that cannot be found on the FIA ​​site.

I'd like to make sure he won't get grid penalties in Portimao for those 3rd CE and ES.

He won’t have any grid penalties at Portimao from those engine unit changes, they were done during Imola before the race. They don’t hold off on dishing out penalties just because someone is starting at the back.

That gamble they made with Gasly on the wets really infuriated me. I get they made an error with that, and that’s fine, but what wasn’t fine was keeping him out for so long, losing 6 seconds a lap. He was losing a pitstop to everyone he let by every four laps. By the time they pitted him he was a lap down. It was idiotic to an extreme, they should have cut their losses early. It was obvious the track wasn’t drying out fast enough for him to switch straight from wets to slicks, but they persisted anyway. In the end they were lucky Bottas and Russell collided to give Gasly a lap back and the chance to fight his way back into the points.

Tsunoda it was an error filled weekend. Pushing too hard on his first qualifying lap, and binned it. I watch his onboards and he is very critical of himself when he makes an error. It was a shame because it really looks like he has a lot of pace and confidence in the car. His race he had a great opening lap, but after the first safety car he seemed to struggle a little bit for pace - though it was his first time driving in the wet in an F1 car. He did improve as time went on, and once he switched to slicks he was lapping rapidly. On the restart after the red flag, I like that he had the confidence to make the move on Hamilton, and it wasn’t the move itself that ended up being the problem, on corner exit he just got too hard on the throttle in the damp conditions and spun. After that he was visibly driving angry, and while his engineer did warn he was going to get a penalty if he kept exceeding track limits, he never actually told him he had received one until after he was out of the car. It was definitely a learning weekend for him.

Hopefully Portimao will be a smooth weekend for Alpha Tauri, so they can start putting some decent points on the board.