Marko impressed with young talent: ''And that in his 'rookie season''

Yuki Tsunoda makes his Formula 1 debut for AlphaTauri in 2021, after an impressive season as a rookie in Formula 2. He did not become a champion, but impressed Helmut Marko.

After two years in which Daniil Kvyat was once again allowed to show what he could do, it is time in 2021 for a new talent from the Red Bull course. Tsunoda, who came on Red Bull's radar through Honda's programme, will make his debut in 2021 and will be the first Japanese to return to Formula 1 since 2014.

Marko enjoys Tsunoda

''Tsunoda was the only F2 rider who consistently finished in the top five of each race. Only due to technical problems and some crashes he didn't win the championship and that in his rookie season," Marko is clearly impressed by the Japanese driver.

''He has a lot of speed and learns very fast. When you see the last races, for example, you notice that at the beginning of the race he has something to spare his tyres, and then goes on the attack. That was a great mix of aggressiveness and driving with your mind."

Tsunoda was allowed to compete for AlphaTauri in the Young Driver Test, but there was no free practice test. But that wasn't because of his qualities. ''He is a funny boy with a lot of charisma. He is 1.61 metres tall and weighs only 58 kilos. We didn't use him in Formula 1 on a Friday because it would simply take too much time to adapt everything to the car," concludes the Red Bull top man to Motorsport-total.com.