Yuki Tsunoda recalls career ‘turning point’ in Montreal on eve of Canada return

Yuki Tsunoda revealed it was the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix that acted as a “turning point” for his career and understanding of the car.

The 23-year-old looks to be one of the most improved drivers of the season so far as he went from a difficult 2022 campaign to regularly challenging for points in 2023.

The performance of Nyck de Vries would suggest Tsunoda is extracting more out of the car then should be expected but the Japanese driver revealed he has found a comfortable set-up which he believes works well with the AT04.

This set-up was first discovered by Tsunoda and the team at last year’s race in Montreal.

“The Canadian track is difficult and enjoyable to drive, and the atmosphere is amazing,” Tsunoda said. “It’s a street circuit, but feels more like an old-style permanent racetrack, a bit like Suzuka, where as soon as you step outside the white line, you end up on the grass.

“It’s tricky in terms of setup as you need low drag and high downforce. In fact, I remember the Canada race last year was a bit of a turning point in my understanding of the car.

“I struggled a lot in free practice, but I was able to come back much stronger in the race. Together with the engineers, we were able to understand which direction to take, to make both the car and me faster. That balance setup we found in Montreal is still what we use now. The sim last week confirmed that and I’m happy with the work we did in fine-tuning the setup. I hope it works out.”

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Tsunoda was unlucky to miss out on points during the last race in Spain with the stewards harshly ruling he had pushed Zhou Guanyu off the track. Tsunoda admitted his frustration but wants to move on from the Barcelona race.

“It was frustrating not to score points because of the penalty in Spain, but putting that to one side, I can say we were consistent and I was really happy with the way we worked,” he said. “The team did a good job, especially with the strategy for Sunday, and also for qualifying I got a lot of help from my engineers and the team.

“We are working well together, but more than that, the team itself has improved and everyone is pulling in the same direction. Even though we know we are struggling a bit this season, we have achieved good results in the races, and that is down to how hard everyone is working.

“I feel I am personally improving race by race and able to give 100% in terms of concentration and effort, which was my target for this year. I know I can deliver and because I am pushing, I’m on the limit every lap. Occasionally that leads to a mistake, but I can learn from that. The last couple of races have been positive, I enjoyed some overtaking in Barcelona, which I had not expected to be honest, and our pace was strong.”