AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly ‘can’t wait to kick off the 2021 Formula One season in Bahrain this weekend, as he expects new teammate – Yuki Tsunoda to ‘deliver’ in his rookie campaign.
With the first race being held in Bahrain where pre-season took place just over a week ago, Gasly is confident that the team can extract the best result possible from the circuit, saying: “It means we have a good idea of what we need for this Sakhir track.”
The Frenchman also spoke of having pre-season at the same track which hosts the season-opener as feeling like “having extra free practice sessions”, which is key because Friday Practice this season have been shortened from 90 minutes to just one hour.
Reflecting on pre-season, Gasly felt that the team has had their best test since he first joined the team in late 2017 when formerly known as Toro Rosso, saying: “… we did more laps than any other team and it was really productive.”
Gasly however noted the “impressive” lack of performance and reliability issues throughout the three day test across all teams compared to previous pre-seasons, concluding: “There has been a lot of technological progress.”
On his thoughts about the new technical regulations, Gasly admitted that “a little bit less grip” will be the main issue, especially with not much difference in the car’s behaviour except when travelling through the corners.
Gasly overall feels that the car is “a really good base” to launch the season from with further changes set to come as AlphaTauri chase further downforce, especially with the AT02 already reacting positively to changes made by the team.
On Tsunoda joining the team, Gasly praised his new teammate for a flawless pre-season, adding: “He made no mistakes and did everything that was asked of him.”
Tsunoda meanwhile has admitted that this weekend marks a “big step up” on life in F2 where the Japanese youngster finished third in 2020 with three race victories, of which two wins came in Belgian and Sakhir Feature Races.
Pre-season however wasn’t Tsunoda’s first time driving for the team after participating in private tests with older cars throughout the off-season on top of driving in December’s Young Driver Test.
Tsunoda though is wary that there has been plenty of learning to do, saying: “There has been a lot to learn, in terms of the power of the car, how effective the brakes are and, especially unique to Formula 1, how many controls and switches there are on the steering wheel.”
Tsunoda’s pre-season testing programme mainly centred around studying data and understanding the car’s behaviour when changes are made to the setup, with the 20 year-old noting that he felt a “good feeling” in his steering and that Honda’s power unit had extra power.
On his aims for this season as the rookie tipped to finish highest in the standings, Tsunoda said: “My approach to the season will be to push hard right from the start, building on my experience to find the limits of the car and I hope that, by the mid-season, it all comes together with some good results.”
Tsunoda however is wary of how “very fast and experienced” Gasly is as his teammate and is keen to “learn as much as possible…” from the Frenchman this season.
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