Yuki Tsunoda will experience the Circuit de Monaco for the first time in his career this weekend, with the Japanese racer looking to put the disappointment of the Spanish Grand Prix behind him.
The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver had a difficult weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, failing to escape Q1 on Saturday and retiring early with a technical issue on Sunday. It means Tsunoda has only scored points in one of the opening four races.
“I’m looking forward to Monaco, particularly as Spain was a difficult weekend for me,” said Tsunoda. “I was not happy with my driving in Qualifying and made a mistake, but I must learn to accept that these things can happen and move on.
“I have only done four race weekends in F1 so far and now I am just resetting my mind. I am focussing on my driving and adapting as much as possible to the car. A couple of days after Spain, it was my 21st birthday but I didn’t do anything special: a Covid swab in the morning, followed by a gym session – a normal day in the office!”
Tsunoda’s first experience of Monaco will come during Thursday’s practice sessions around the principality, but he says he will use the experience of racing around other street circuits, such as the legendary Macau circuit, to build his confidence.
He knows track evolution will be an important part of the weekend, and he wants to avoid any mistakes during Thursday’s practice sessions that may hinder him across Saturday and Sunday.
“I’ve never raced in Monaco in any category, but I have raced in Macau for example, so I have quite a bit of experience on street circuits,” said the Japanese racer. “They’re okay. You need a very different approach on a street circuit like Monaco, especially considering I have never been there before.
“Track evolution is a big factor there, with very low grip at first and then it changes with every session. The key will be not to make any mistakes in FP1 or FP2 in order to maximise my time on track.
“There are many unusual factors about this weekend and it was only while we were in Spain that I learned that you practice on Thursday with no track time on Friday. I will have to make sure I do not lose focus or concentration, but I’m sure I can adapt.”
Tsunoda has spent a lot of time preparing for Monaco in AlphaTauri’s simulator, and he hopes the team’s shortfalls, which have been the slower corners so far in the opening four races, are resolved ahead of this weekend’s race.
“I have spent a lot of time on the simulator to prepare,” he said. “Our car has not always been at its best in the slow corners, which is what we will face in Monaco, but I think that even if the car is obviously important, the main factor will be how much I can adapt to the track.
“During practice I will be trying to give the engineers as much good feedback as possible to help them set up the car, while I focus just on my driving. Qualifying will be about having confidence in the car, because that is even more important than usual on a street circuit.”
