77 replies to this topic

[sniper80]

Tsunoda knows Suzuka very well, but in a car that is not familiar, it will be difficult.

[Bliman]

At least he has to get out of q1. He is there to do better than Lawson immediately. Also he has been very vocal. But imo he will succeed and end just inside the top ten and people will find it a great success.

[MikeTekRacing]

At least he has to get out of q1. He is there to do better than Lawson immediately. Also he has been very vocal. But imo he will succeed and end just inside the top ten and people will find it a great success.

considering the short amount of time - this would be really good for everyone (bar Lawson).

On the long run - he needs to be consistent and rather close (ish) for this to be a success. 

 

Hope he makes Q3! If there is a guy that deserves a great weekend - this is him

[ClubmanGT]

At least he has to get out of q1. He is there to do better than Lawson immediately. Also he has been very vocal. But imo he will succeed and end just inside the top ten and people will find it a great success.

 

I feel like Lawson fluffed his two runs and was on track to get that car into Q2 on his single laps, so that is doable. 

 

Whether it is easy enough to do consistently in that car is the question. 

 

Lawson just has to do better than 20th. That's all. Anything better than that is a start. I feel he'll likely do well in a more subdued car. 

[MikeTekRacing]

I feel he'll likely do well in a more subdued car. 

sure, but that's not the task at hand...

[ClubmanGT]

sure, but that's not the task at hand...

 

"Do better than you did in the Red Bull" seems like a pretty good place to start. 

 

If he can be on the pace with Hadjar or close to it first weekend in, he'll be doing OK. 

[MikeTekRacing]

yeah, of course.

[Bliman]

considering the short amount of time - this would be really good for everyone (bar Lawson).
On the long run - he needs to be consistent and rather close (ish) for this to be a success.

Hope he makes Q3! If there is a guy that deserves a great weekend - this is him

If he is in Q3 then it is a success otherwise it is normal and questions will be raised. Just like Lawson he has to succeed immediately. Lawson also got very little time so Tsunoda cannot hide behind it. Also Tsunoda has been much more bold than Lawson so I expect people to treat him the same as Lawson if he fails to get out of q1.

[MikeTekRacing]

If he is in Q3 then it is a success otherwise it is normal and questions will be raised. Just like Lawson he has to succeed immediately. Lawson also got very little time so Tsunoda cannot hide behind it. Also Tsunoda has been much more bold than Lawson so I expect people to treat him the same as Lawson if he fails to get out of q1.

I don't disagree he needs to perform immediately. 

Lawson got a preseason, lots of time for simulator, a couple of days of testing (maybe some film day?), before flying into Australia.

He's had less time to jump into the jr car to replace Daniel twice.

He's had as much time as Hadjar and Bortoleto. 

 

Tsunoda has way less time than that. But of course he needs to NOT be last. 

It also depends on where Max is..if he is 12th, then the pressure is smaller. If Max is again mixing it at the front, he must be at least mixing it with the midfield.

 

There needs to be some pace shown, ideally qualy and race, but AT LEAST during some FP, or some race stints.

You can get away with some troubled results if there is anything pointing to better pace.

[Bliman]

I don't disagree he needs to perform immediately. 

Lawson got a preseason, lots of time for simulator, a couple of days of testing (maybe some film day?), before flying into Australia.

He's had less time to jump into the jr car to replace Daniel twice.

He's had as much time as Hadjar and Bortoleto. 

 

Tsunoda has way less time than that. But of course he needs to NOT be last. 

It also depends on where Max is..if he is 12th, then the pressure is smaller. If Max is again mixing it at the front, he must be at least mixing it with the midfield.

 

There needs to be some pace shown, ideally qualy and race, but AT LEAST during some FP, or some race stints.

You can get away with some troubled results if there is anything pointing to better pace.

I think Tsunoda has done lots of sim work also. He is also an experienced driver which Lawson was not.

I personally think that Tsunoda will do just fine.After all you cannot do worse than Lawson. He can only do worse imo if he crashes in qualy and the race which is unlikely. It will be interesting to see how he does and hopefully, he can challenge Max in the future. That would be nice to see

[ClubmanGT]

Best case scenario for everyone, Yuki gets into Q2 and Lawson gets into Q1 ahead of Hadjar. 

Then we know Yuki is doing good work in the RB and it's where Lawson would have been without the mistakes in his qualifying sessions but probably the limit of a non-Verstappen talent in that particular car in its current state, and Lawson gets a monkey off his back instantly and can focus on the rest of the season. 

[ClubmanGT]

There needs to be some pace shown, ideally qualy and race, but AT LEAST during some FP, or some race stints.

You can get away with some troubled results if there is anything pointing to better pace.

 

Lawson had 10th fastest time in China, 2nd fastest time in Aus. But pace was off at the wrong time of the race (China fastest lap was like lap 36) where as Max kept enough in reserve to be quicker when the fuel had burnt off and he set his fastest on lap 50-something. 

[MikeTekRacing]

Best case scenario for everyone, Yuki gets into Q2 and Lawson gets into Q1 ahead of Hadjar. 

Then we know Yuki is doing good work in the RB and it's where Lawson would have been without the mistakes in his qualifying sessions but probably the limit of a non-Verstappen talent in that particular car in its current state, and Lawson gets a monkey off his back instantly and can focus on the rest of the season. 

except for Hadjar

[SamH123]

One year (towards the end of his career) I remember Jenson Button saying Suzuka was fairly easy to drive (in dry quali anyway).  For some reason it has stuck in my head.  Point being it might be a good track for Yuki to start with

Edited by SamH123, 02 April 2025 - 01:01.

[Afterburner]

One year (towards the end of his career) I remember Jenson Button saying Suzuka was fairly easy to drive (in dry quali anyway).  For some reason it has stuck in my head.  Point being it might be a good track for Yuki to start with

Suzuka does not strike me as an easy track and Button was always pretty handy at it, so I'm not sure I'd agree with him!

[vlado]

It must just be me but this whore rhetoric of the Red Bull cars being extremely difficult to drive and "only VER can do it" is a bit over the top at this point? 

 

Put someone like PIA in the second seat and let's see how difficult it really is... I don't quite trust any of those potential 2nd drivers they keep trying to put in that second car and then claim that only VER can deliver. 

 

Yes, I'm sure it's difficult to drive, but I also think it simply requires a top tier driver to extract the maximum out of it, and VER is certainly not the only one in that category. 

[MikeTekRacing]

It’s repeated evidence with drivers that have had various degrees of success.
Realisticly the drivers that could have driven this year for them stop at Sainz. And he hasn’t set the world on fire against Albon, who, is the one of all people to say how hard it is to drive the RB.

[SB]

One year (towards the end of his career) I remember Jenson Button saying Suzuka was fairly easy to drive (in dry quali anyway).  For some reason it has stuck in my head.  Point being it might be a good track for Yuki to start with

 

Easy to drrve doesnt automatically means easy to drive fast  .

[RedRabbit]

One year (towards the end of his career) I remember Jenson Button saying Suzuka was fairly easy to drive (in dry quali anyway). For some reason it has stuck in my head. Point being it might be a good track for Yuki to start with

For an F1 driver in an F1 car I think he makes a good point. Suzuka takes some practice but there are no awkward Tilke corners, that can upset a rhythm.

It might have been better to describe it as straightforward instead of easy

[MattK9]

One year (towards the end of his career) I remember Jenson Button saying Suzuka was fairly easy to drive (in dry quali anyway).  For some reason it has stuck in my head.  Point being it might be a good track for Yuki to start with

 

Suzuka has a lot of high speed sweeping corners. That suited Jensons style, smooth inputs and higher minimum speed in the corners.

 

That might not be good for a car that has an unstable rear end like current RB.

[MattK9]

I cant imagine that Tsunoda will get out of Q1. He will be lucky not to be last. Can we update the poll?

 

I hope I'm wrong, because I want him to do well.

[Nemo1965]

Suzuka has a lot of high speed sweeping corners. That suited Jensons style, smooth inputs and higher minimum speed in the corners.

 

That might not be good for a car that has an unstable rear end like current RB.

 

That right-hander after Degner is a tricky one, in that aspect, because it kind of has a little raise in the exit of the corner. In the sim i just sacrifice the speed in that corner to have at least a clean sprint to the hairpin and not lose the rear there. Not a pleasant place to spin.

Edited by Nemo1965, 02 April 2025 - 10:41.

[GiorgioF1]

I'm curious on how that car will be handling the S1 esses when not perfectly dialed in.

[Sash1]

Yuki is the new king, pole, win, WC everything. Or maybe not.

[A3]

I cant imagine that Tsunoda will get out of Q1. He will be lucky not to be last. Can we update the poll?

 

I hope I'm wrong, because I want him to do well.

 

I didn't do exactly well with the poll, did I? 

 

If I add an option now it would look weird I think.

[jonpollak]

Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Jp

[MikeTekRacing]

Lawson had 10th fastest time in China, 2nd fastest time in Aus. But pace was off at the wrong time of the race (China fastest lap was like lap 36) where as Max kept enough in reserve to be quicker when the fuel had burnt off and he set his fastest on lap 50-something. 

yeah, the pace was off especially since in China he was on 2 stops while most of the cars in front were on 1 stop..

He was struggling to catch Hadjar and Doohan who were pushing each other off track, while Max was chasing the podium.

He overtook Hulkenberg after a pitstop. apart from that and the 1st lap he made no progress. 

In Australia he was 1 lap down before the SC (he unlaped himself). He was about to be lapped by Max with what, less than 50% of ther race being ran and no extra pitstop or damage.

 

That's bad

[ClubmanGT]

The saving grace in Australia was that he set that lap roughly at the same time as everyone else set theirs; i.e. in comparable conditions, on comparable fuel loads. I think without that he would not be stepping into the sister car this weekend at all.

There's something there in terms of pace.