Tost: 'Tsunoda underestimated his physical training a bit'

AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost says that Yuki Tsunoda sometimes underestimated the physical demands in his first Formula One season. At the same time, he sees that the driver now takes his training sessions a lot more seriously and has improved a lot physically.

Tsunoda himself is always the first to admit that he has fallen short somewhere. For example, in his rookie season he spoke openly about the areas of improvement in his attitude, which has improved rapidly since his move from Japan to Italy, near the AlphaTauri factory.

Tost praising Tsunoda

Tost continues to express his confidence in the young Japanese driver, who previously spoke out about his fitness and the role it played in his own performance versus that of teammate Pierre Gasly. "First of all, Yuki was not as bad in physical condition as he thinks," said Tost in conversation with Formula1.com.

According to Tost, every driver thinks he is not fit enough, after which he logically has to step up his physical training. "Yuki may have underestimated some training sessions which he should have done, but he did it and then he improved a lot," says the Austrian.

When he started taking both his physical training and his technical lessons with the engineers more seriously, Tsunoda progressed rapidly, according to his team boss. "He improved a lot," says Tost. Despite being at Albert Park for the first time, Tsunoda immediately showed, according to the AlphaTauri boss, that he is "very well on his way. He therefore expects a good season for the young driver.