2021 final review | Tsunoda costs AlphaTauri fifth place

Following a gruelling Formula 1 season, it is time to evaluate the performance of all the teams and drivers. It's time to look at the performance of Alpha Tauri, the sixth placed team in the Constructors' Championship. The Faenza based team had a season with ups and downs.

Alpha Tauri: 6.9

Before the start of the season team boss Franz Tost said he wanted to aim for P5 in the World Championship. For a long time Alpha Tauri had fifth place in sight, but after the Qatar Grand Prix the Italian formation couldn't quite make it. Alpine scored a third and fifth place, while Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda remained pointless.

Alpha Tauri could and perhaps should have decided the battle with Alpine earlier in the season. The AT02 proved to be a highly competitive car, but a combination of factors caused many points to be lost. Yuki Tsunoda struggled at times in his first year as a rookie in Formula 1 and strategically a lot went wrong.

Pierre Gasly proved to be a true qualification monster in 2021. On average the Frenchman had a starting position of 6.36, but during the races things often went wrong.

Internal duel

For a while it looked like Yuki Tsunoda would suffer a 0-22 defeat in qualifying, but he managed to avert that at the final Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi. With more than half a second deficit on average too, the Japanese driver knows he has to do better in 2022. He will also need to flourish more in the races if he is not to be dwarfed by teammate Pierre Gasly.

Pierre Gasly - 7.6

The Frenchman hasn't done much wrong, only in the season opener in Bahrain was he below par. It earned him a 3.0. The highlight of the season was his podium finish in Azerbaijan. He crossed the line in third place after Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton dropped out of the race in Baku.

Gasly showed in 2021 why he would deserve a place at Red Bull Racing in 2023. The Frenchman was consistent and excelled in qualifying. He almost single-handedly led his team AlphaTauri to sixth place.

Yuki Tsunoda - 6.0

A meagre pass, that's one way of describing Tsunoda's season. The Japanese driver started the season with lots of expectation, but ultimately he suffered a huge dip in form. Helmut Marko decided that Tsunoda had to move to live near the Alpha Tauri factory. From that moment on, with the help of experienced reserve driver Alexander Albon, the Japanese driver steadily improved.

In September he was told that his contract with AlphaTauri had been extended for another year. He didn't think he would get another chance, because Tsunoda himself believes he can and must improve a lot. Next year he will have more than twenty weekends to prove himself, but if he drops below the limit again, it will be a very difficult story.