Confidence in Tsunoda: 'I don't see anything out of the ordinary'

Yuki Tsunoda started his season well by scoring points at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Japanese rider then experienced a disappointing period in which he was criticised for his performance, although Jody Egginton thinks the dip in form is logical.

The AlphaTauri technical director sees that it is difficult to just get into Formula One, so novice drivers need time to get used to the car. The growing complexity of the cars is said to be the problem in this regard.

"If you consider any first-time driver in F1 who's had any length of career, they have ups and downs," he stated in conversation with Motorsport.com. "I can think back to my time in previous teams where at the start of the season with a young driver, there was a mixture of exuberance and bad luck. And before you know it, you are five races in and scratching your head and going 'what's gone on there?'."

Egginton thinks his good first race in Bahrain just might have raised expectations. "I think some of the added focus is on the fact that he had a good opening race. The car's competitive, and then the expectation goes up, but you're still on that same learning process. If you are in focus and towards the front when it happens all of a sudden the question marks and the questions seem to be a little bit more intense, but for me, I don't see anything out of the ordinary."