Tsunoda confirms words from Marko: "I needed a big change"

Yuki Tsunoda was sent to Italy by Helmut Marko to better get into his rhythm at AlphaTauri, the Japanese himself confirms.

Marko is said to have sent Tsunoda to Italy to improve his form at Red Bull Racing's sister team. "After my crash during the second practice in Monaco, I was told that Red Bull were not happy," said the young Japanese driver in conversation with Formula1.com. "Then we started talking to Red Bull and AlphaTauri about how we could change things because I haven't had a good race in the last three or four weekends."

He continued: "And then sometimes you need a big change, so they decided to move me to Italy to talk more with the engineers and go to the factory. That was a good decision for me. At the start of the season, I already asked Red Bull if it was possible to move to Italy. Initially, I stayed in Milton Keynes, but now I can go to Italy and spend more time with the team."

The AlphaTauri rookie explains that he will be keenly watched in Faenza and that the team will help him achieve better results. Although he sees it as a positive change, he didn't like everything. "Franz Tost planned everything for me. Especially the time of fitness exercises is much more than before," said Tsunoda.