![Alpha Tauri F1’s Yuki Tsunoda “Nick de Vries and my fastest team leader”[F1-Gate.com]](https://i0.wp.com/f1-gate.com/media/img2022/20221207-yuki-tsunoda-f1.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "Alpha Tauri F1’s Yuki Tsunoda “Nick de Vries and my fastest team leader”[F1-Gate.com]")
Yuki Tsunoda believes the role of AlphaTauri F1 team leader for 2023 will go to Nick de Vries or himself, whichever is faster.
Yuki Tsunoda, who learned the tricks of the trade alongside Pierre Gasly, is about to start his third F1 season at AlphaTauri in 2023.
However, Pierre Gasly has moved to the Alpine F1 team. Yuki Tsunoda welcomes new teammate Nick de Vries, an F1 rookie with an impressive track record in Formula E, FIA-F2 and sports cars.
Yuki Tsunoda has been with AlphaTauri F1 for two years, while Red Bull F1 motorsport consultant Helmut Marko is 27-year-old Nick de Marco, who has gained experience in testing and simulator work at Mercedes F1. I still think Fries will naturally become the leader of the team.
When it was decided that Nick de Vries would join Pierre Guthrie’s successor Helmut Marko said: “Yuki is young and doesn’t have that kind of experience or background, so Nick will lead the team. He should be,” he said.
“We’ll see what happens next year, but with his experience and personality, he should be the leader of the team.”
Yuki Tsunoda, the longest-serving AlphaTauri F1 driver, believes he will be given more responsibility and denies that Nick de Vries will automatically take over the leadership role. He stressed that the fastest driver would lead the team.
When asked about his position within AlphaTauri F1 following the arrival of Nick de Vries, Yuki Tsunoda said: “In any case, I think the fastest guy will lead the team.”
“So whether I’m a foreman or not, I just focus on my job, learn a lot and improve.”
“Of course, Pierre is leaving, so I have more responsibility than this year. But I’m very confident I can join him. I’ll come back stronger.”
Yuki Tsunoda’s confidence comes from being able to finish 2022 stronger after a tough year for AlphaTauri, who slipped to ninth behind the Haas F1 team.
“Overall this season, I think I’ve always done pretty well in every race, I’m quite happy with the results this year,” explained 22-year-old Yuki Tsunoda.
“Obviously we still need a lot of improvements, especially consistency, but at least we have a clear target for next year.”
“I also want to thank Pierre from the bottom of my heart. I don’t think I could have made so much progress without him over the last couple of years and I’ve learned a lot from him. It’s been a pleasure working with you.”
Category: F1 / Hiroki Tsunoda / Alpha Taurus
