Yuki Positive for Round 5
Carlin will be delighted with how the first round at Silverstone went. The British team saw both drivers charge through the grid for the Feature and Sprint Races.
Yuki Tsunoda set the early pace in a red hot Free Practice with the Japanese driver just over four-tenths faster then Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite turn that into a front row position for the Feature Race, finishing Qualifying in 9th place.
“From Free Practice it was good,” explained the Honda Formula Dream Project driver who headed the session. “Carlin had the car working very well. For Qualifying the pace was not quite like Free Practice but still there was enough potential to be in the top 3.”
“With the first set in Qualifying, there was a little mistake but I was prepared for Set 2. Then with Set 2 I did a huge mistake in Sector 2 while I was gaining a lot and it should have been a really good lap. That was my mistake and a shame for me.”
However, the Red Bull Junior showed his pace yet again as he stormed through the pack to eventually get on the podium with a 3rd place finish.
“Race 1, the start was good. I gained a few positions in the first lap. I started on the Medium tyre then we came to the pit for the Prime tyre.”
“After we changed tyres I got good information from the engineer that most of the drivers started on Prime so they would have degradation in the second stint. So I tried to manage my tyre at the beginning and I managed to follow that strategy and that worked well, at the end we had good pace for the last 5 laps and I could take P3.”
Another great performance from the 20-year-old Japanese driver. Sunday though was a short day for Tsunoda as he was spun round on the first lap of the Sprint Race preventing an even more impressive points haul.
“Race 2, there is not much to say. The start was OK, I gained one position so after Turn 1 I was P5 and I think I left enough space for the guy inside but I guess he locked up, hit me and spun me round.”
“It is disappointing because I think that there was enough potential to be in the top 3 easy. The Carlin Team were good at controlling degradation so I think it was a shame that we did not get to show that.”
Looking ahead to the weekend in round 5 of the championship he will be looking forward to yet again showing he has the potential to make a real impact; “I think that overall the weekend was positive and we had good pace compared with the previous race. Just the Qualifying, the mistake from me and I think that we can also go forward as a team for next weekend.”
* Image Credit: ©Formula Motorsport Limited
