Tsunoda: 'Want to race against Verstappen, but especially Hamilton and Alonso'

For a young Japanese driver it is quite a challenge to reach Formula 1. Japan is not around the corner and the language barrier remains a major stumbling block. That is why Yuki Tsunoda hasn't dared to dream of Formula 1 for a long time, but now that the time has come, he thinks back to his childhood.

As it is therefore particularly difficult for the Japanese to reach F1, they have actually always had the help of Japanese car manufacturers. Kazuki Nakajima and Kamui Kobayashi did this with the help of Toyota and Takuma Sato was Honda's protégé 20 years ago. So Tsunoda is following in his footsteps.

On the way to F1, Tsunoda was therefore very dependent on the preference of first Honda and later Helmut Marko. That is why he did not dare to dream big. "I only thought about F1 when I started racing in Formula 3. Until then I was only thinking about taking the next step, and F1 was too far away," said the 20-year-old newcomer to Autosport Web.

That is not to say that Tsunoda did not look up to certain drivers as a child. "I would like to fight Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso," he said when asked which driver he uses as an example. "But especially Hamilton and Alonso. I saw them racing on the Fuji Speedway when I was seven or eight years old. I am very happy to be able to race against those drivers now."