Egginton: Yuki puts pressure on Pierre and makes steady progress

Yuki Tsunoda often had accidents at the 2021 debut, while AlphaTauri technical director Jody Egginton believes the Japanese has become much stronger this year.

Jody Egginton: “Yuki is adapting to Formula 1 and although the regulations have changed this year and we have a different car, he already changed the approach to piloting last year. At the beginning of 2021, he achieved good results several times. Everyone thought, “Wow, Yuki is amazing.” But many beginners succeed in the beginning and then face difficulties.

So it was with Yuuki. At some point he lost confidence, started to doubt himself, what he could do with the car, and at the end of last year he found an approach, realized what he needed from the car, how he wanted to decorate it.

He became a better pilot, could use a wider range of settings. For Yuki, who now competes with us, it is much easier to set up the car than for Yuki, who was halfway through last season.

Last year he wasn’t sure what he wanted from the car, and he was stuck with crashes and crashes for a while, but he got through that and is in much better shape now. Now that he knows what he needs from the car, he is on the right track.

Such training is an important stage in a beginner’s development. I’ve seen talented drivers who couldn’t race the way they wanted, made stupid mistakes and suffered from reliability issues that prevented them from covering long distances.

Yuuki’s path is no different from most rookies in this regard, but now the expectations are much higher. AlphaTauri is a mid-group team, we have to earn points in the fight against rivals. It would be easier for him if we were outsiders – then he could improve himself.

We talk to him about his mood. He listens, but sometimes uses unprintable expressions at the most crucial moment. Engineers help him, they are polite to him. Therefore, we remind him that expressing emotions is not the best way to accurately describe the behavior of the car on the track.

He shows character. Many people don’t like what they hear, but we usually understand what he means. And when we have a briefing after the race, Yuki calms down, we tell him we understand his lines during the race, but “let’s try to find the best way to tell us about the behavior of the car.”

Yuki is a very young flier. He is at the very beginning of his career. In the second year of his career, he had to adapt to a completely new car, which should not be underestimated. Many of those who came before were related to the gradual evolution of the machine, and Yuki came before the revolution. He has learned a lot this year. It’s not easy and the car isn’t as competitive as last year, it’s harder for him to show his speed on it. But now he is putting pressure on Pierre and making steady progress.

Yuki is on the right track, but this path is not yet completed. He’s not ready yet. He is making progress, but he still has a lot to learn. And we need to make the car even faster. We will develop together.”