Tsunoda: 'My confidence has really returned this weekend'

Yuki Tsunoda has suffered a fair amount during his debut Formula One campaign. Alongside Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri, he hasn't quite lived up to expectations, and currently sits in 14th place in the Drivers' Championship, 80 points behind his French teammate.

After a promising start, crashes and moments of over-aggressive driving has cost Tsunoda and his qualifying in particular has left a lot to be desired. While Gasly is almost always near the front, Tsunoda has regularly been knocked out before reaching Q3, and on numerous occasions this has happened in Q1.

However, qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marked the third consecutive Q3 appearance for the Japanese driver, and he's impressed throughout this race weekend. He was on the pace on Friday, and in qualifying he managed to beat Gasly.

While the Frenchman was knocked out in Q2, Tsunoda qualified in P8, which could've been higher if he hadn't exceeded track limits. Still, it was an encouraging Saturday for Tsunoda, who was one of just three drivers who completed their fastest Q2 laps on the medium tyres, meaning he has a great shot of securing an impressive result on Sunday.

What has Tsunoda said?

In an official AlphaTauri press release, Tsunoda revealed his thoughts on how qualifying went. "It’s been a good weekend so far but I’m of course a little frustrated today, it’s such a shame about the track limits in Q3 as I think it was a good lap especially without a tow. My confidence has really returned this weekend and it shows on track, it’s the most confident I’ve felt in the car since the first race in Bahrain, so that’s really positive.

"I’m really pleased with my Q2 lap and it means I’ll be starting the race on the mediums, which is a really strong position to be in. It’s definitely a good way to finish the season, with a strong qualifying, and I just have to put it altogether when it counts tomorrow."