New RB F1 car already feels like a “really big step”

On Thursday, Tsunoda and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo logged their first miles throughout a shakedown and filming day on the Italian circuit following a glitzy launch in Las Vegas the earlier week, the place the previous AlphaTauri staff introduced its all-new id as Visa Money App RB.

Tsunoda mentioned the brand new automotive already looks like a major enchancment over the automotive that completed solely eighth within the constructors’ standings final season, however had a robust belated evolution that noticed Ricciardo end seventh in Mexico and Tsunoda seize eighth in Abu Dhabi.

“It is feeling nice on the monitor, the primary run with the VCARB 01 went all easy,” mentioned the 23-year-old Japanese, who stays on board for a fourth marketing campaign.

“I already felt a few steps of enchancment in comparison with final 12 months and a extremely massive step I felt in comparison with the identical time final 12 months. I actually loved additionally the brand new automotive with the brand new livery, new staff, so it was a optimistic day.

“I’d say general, it is a better dealing with automotive and simply did not really feel any excellent difficulty or sturdy traits and actions. Up to now, I am feeling optimistic.”

Ricciardo added: “From a sense it was simply good to get just a few laps once more after a Christmas break. It is exhausting to know but the place we can be however I felt actually good getting behind the wheel once more.

“Being again with Pink Bull was already one thing that made me really feel entire once more, being again with that household. And now this 12 months it is one other part of this staff’s ‘profession’.

Yuki Tsunoda, VCARB 01

Picture by: Pink Bull Content material Pool

“It is a time the place we’re not seen as only a Pink Bull sort of junior staff. It is a staff that is standing by itself two toes.”

Technical director Jody Egginton hopes his squad can begin from the place it left off in Abu Dhabi fairly than having to claw its manner again into rivalry once more.

“The general objective is we need to be aggressive, we need to be preventing exhausting within the midfield and actually in a position to extract all of the efficiency that the automotive has accessible after which we develop it from that time,” he mentioned.

“So, I feel if we are able to tick all of these bins and get the most effective out of the automotive, we’ll be glad.

“We had a robust end to the 12 months final 12 months. Our expectation is that we’re in that battle within the midfield and we are able to get into that battle a little bit bit earlier, be a bit extra constant and be a function in the entire races, actually, battling exhausting within the battle for factors and making an attempt to extract essentially the most from the automotive and from ourselves.”