Despite his rocky first two seasons in the sport, Red Bull had few other options. The prospect’s 2023 season will be about demonstrating how much of that potential remains.
How He Got Here
How He Got Here In 2016, Tsunoda began competing in the domestic Formula 4 series in Japan. In his subsequent full-time season, he placed third, and in 2018, he won his first championship with a seven-win Japanese Formula 4 campaign. That put him on a fast track to Formula One.
Tsunoda joined Red Bull’s farm system in 2019 thanks to Honda’s close ties to Formula One, which saw him finish ninth in FIA Formula 3. In 2020, he was elevated to Recipe 2, where he completed a heavenly third as a newbie in a series that customarily slants more toward compensating experience than youthful ability. He got four poles out of twelve chances and was still in the running for the championship until the last weekend of the season when he lost out to fellow 2021 rookie Mick Schumacher for the title.
What Happened in 2022?
What Happened in 2022? Last year, Tsunoda was out-qualified by Gasly on 21 of 22 relevant occasions. This year, 13 out of 21 people were affected. In 2021, Gasly scored more than three times as many points as Tsunoda. His 23 were less than half in 2022.
Tsunoda raced and qualified much closer to his only consistent measuring stick than he had as a rookie, but those numbers still paint Gasly as the clear stronger driver of the pair. That is a sign of progress, and it is something that can be saved from a season in which a prospect is buried at a team that doesn’t compete.
GOALS FOR 2023
However, this progress is insufficient. Tsunoda must finish his third season as more than just a better prospect if he wants to stay in Formula One. He needs to be a strong driver on his own, just like Gasly was when Alpine asked him to take over for Fernando Alonso in 2023.
That means he needs to score more consistently, appear in more Q3s more frequently, and, most importantly, show that he is at least on par with his rookie teammate Nyck de Vries.
That’s a lot to ask. De Vries has competed at international-relevant levels for as long as Tsunoda has raced cars, despite being a rookie in Formula One. His one and only start in Formula One was last season when he drove for Williams as a fill-in driver.
After the 2023 season, Tsunoda should be in much better shape if he can defeat a strong teammate with little experience during F1 race weekends. He might not continue competing in Formula One at all.
A SUCCESSFUL SEASON LOOKS LIKE…
A SUCCESSFUL SEASON LOOKS LIKE… Tsunoda’s definition of success will be straightforward: whether or not he maintains a grid position. He can either convince another team that he is ready for a role outside of Red Bull’s development program or that he is better than the idea of bringing along another young driver in a successful season.