Tsunoda vows to change approach after run of F1 qualifying shunts

Tsunoda crashed out of qualifying last time out at the Circuit Paul Ricard, spinning on the exit of Turn 2.

The Japanese rookie enjoyed a strong weekend in Azerbaijan, but still crashed on his final run in Q3.

Earlier in the season, Tsunoda crashed heavily in Q1 at Imola.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix, Tsunoda acknowledges he has to take it easier in Q1 given the strong pace of the AlphaTauri car at his disposal.

“Normally, I tend to always push hard from the beginning of Q1 which I don’t have to,” Tsunoda said. “It’s not necessary to do it as our car consistently has good pace. It’s always got potential to go through to Q3 but I tend to always push from the beginning, the first push.

“Recently, in the last three races, I did two mistakes for the same reason - pushing too hard from the first push. That makes the whole qualifying finish [early]. Just got to be a bit more easy I would say. take a more different approach, to be more relaxed. And also, I would say I will build it up and be also confident from FP1.

“We will see how the approach works or not. Definitely, I have to change [my] approach and I don’t want to do mistakes again but still, I got to push in the qualifying to have a good result as much as possible. Definitely, I’ve got to change [my] approach.”

Conversely, teammate Pierre Gasly has flourished in 2021, progressing into Q3 at six of the seven races so far.

Tsunoda praised the Frenchman for his approach to qualifying and the “cleverness” he has shown.

“It’s clever how he approaches every session, especially what I saw in France,” Tsunoda added. “Between FP3 and qualifying, we did big steps in the setup, big setup changes. I won’t say what direction we changed but he was more clever in Q1 that on the first push he just tried to feel the balance and see what’s different about the car.

“From there, he started to build up the pace. Even [though] he got experience from a long time in Formula 1, but he still takes it easy, feels the car and as soon as he got the balance and feels the balance, he put it all together which is a different approach to me.

“For me, in France, we did quite similar steps and I just didn’t care for the setup change that I just sent it from the first push and went into the barrier. That’s how he approaches the session and also the cleverness is I think his strength.”