Tsunoda Moves to Fourth in Championship
It was all fours for Yuki Tsunoda, who took fourth in the championship after two fourth places in Spain.
The Japanese driver started the Feature Race from sixth and managed to climb up to fourth place. The Sprint Race saw him start in fifth, finishing the race once again in fourth.
The consistent weekend moved Tsunoda up to fourth in the championship standings, showing the Red Bull juniors’ pace, with 82 points to his name.
Yuki Tsunoda said: “It was a good constant weekend, a good step in the championship for me. Qualifying was still not perfect. There is still something to improve there, both from my side and on the car side. I think we can improve the Qualifying pace for the next race. Make it more possible to have a podium in the Feature Race.”
“In the Feature Race, the car was working well. I felt good with the tyre before the late Safety Car but after that went in the tyre had faded badly. It changed massively; I think because of temperature. The speed with the Safety Car is slow, so the temperature dropped a lot and then the balance of the car was really snappy.”
“After that, I just struggled to improve the pace. I worked as hard as I could. I got P4, a little bit lucky as one driver in front got a penalty but I think it was a good race for us. Today I think was also OK. I think that the more cars you have in front, the harder it is to manage the tyre. I tried to manage as well as I could. That worked OK in the end, not quite enough pace to catch the P3, but still, we are in P4 and I am happy with that. Also, Race 2 was a good experience and I learnt from it. Hopefully, I can improve the race pace and have more good races.”
Fellow Red Bull junior Jehan Daruvala was frustrated to finish out of the points.
The Indian driver qualified in 12th for the Feature Race but ended down in 17th. He couldn’t improve in the Sprint Race and finished in the exact same place.
Daruvala, who finished third in Formula 3 last year, currently sits in 15th in the championship standings with just 18 points.
Jehan Daruvala said: “It was a tough weekend. I just struggled to be right at the front from the start. I don’t have the pace that I have had previously in Qualifying. It has been very difficult for me in the racing to try to move forward. When you start so far back, it’s hard to keep progressing because the tyres get damaged.
“To sum up, it’s been a really difficult first half of the year for me. I expect a lot more from myself, so I think I need to reflect on what’s happened in the next week. I believe in myself and know I can do it so I need to learn and be as well prepared as I can for the second half of the year.”
Formula 2 takes a week break before Carlin returns to action in Belgium for another triple-header.
Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
