Tsunoda: 'Building up gradually will be key at Imola'

Looking ahead to his second Grand Prix in Formula 1, AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda explains how he plans to continue his learning curve started in Bahrain towards Imola, and gives his views on the historic Italian circuit.

"I will start the weekend gradually building up my pace", Tsunoda began in a press release from AlphaTauri. "That will be the key, because you don’t want to make a mistake in FP1 which will make you lose your confidence. Because we have driven there before the season, as a team we can just focus on car set-up and try and maximise that advantage and hopefully, we can have a good result."

Living history

The young driver then turns his gaze to the Autodromo Internazionale, where the drivers will lay down a new layer of rubber this weekend. “[Lack of experience] won't be a problem in Imola, as I have driven there a lot and so I can work in a similar way to what I did in Bahrain. I will use the experience from the first race and I already have confidence in the car in Imola. The circuit has a lot of medium-speed corners, as well as a few quick ones", the driver said.

The teammate of Pierre Gasly continued: "I like the fast chicanes like turns one and two, which is something I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. It really is a special feature of Imola. … It’s important as it is a home race for the team and even for me, it feels like home.”