JANUARY 5, 2024

Top Ten of 2023 - Tenth - Yuki Tsunoda

#10 - Yuki Tsunoda

By Luis Vasconcelos

This was the year that marked Tsunoda’s breakthrough progress in Formula 1. Clearly faster than de Vries – another casting mistake from Helmut Marko – the Japanese was terribly unlucky in the few races he had with Liam Lawson as team mate, boosting the New Zealander’s reputation but being the innocent victim of Pérez’s first lap mistake to miss out on points in Singapore.

It was when Ricciardo returned from injury that Tsunoda proved he’s as good an alternative as the Australian for the second Red Bull seat in 2025, showing he’s a tremendous team player in qualifying in Mexico, giving a tow to the veteran in Q1 and Q2 as he was doomed to start from the back fo the grid. However, in his eagerness to catch his team mate in the late stages of the race a clash with Piastri cost the Japanese valuable points, but Tsunoda made up for it in Brazil and Abu Dhabi, to secure P8 in the championship for the team. The more maure approach paid off and there’s still margin to keep on progressing in 2024.