Tsunoda’s progress “a real worry” for Alpine in points fight with AlphaTauri

2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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[raceweekendpromotion]AlphaTauri have become a stronger force in the constructors’ championship because of the progress Yuki Tsunoda has made this year, according to Alpine’s sporting director Alan Permane.

The two teams go into this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix equal on points. Alan Permane, Alpine’s sporting director, called the fight between them for fifth place “very tough” saying Alphatauri have “got a quicker car than we have, it’s as simple as that.”

While Pierre Gasly was responsible for all of AlphaTauri’s points haul at the last race, Permane acknowledged Tsunoda has also raised his game.

“Up until maybe Austin they only had one driver but it does look like the other guy’s getting his act together and they’ve got two drivers,” he said.

“They had both in Q3 last week and they had both in Q3 this week, so it’s a worry, it’s a real worry,” Permane continued. “We’ve got to just keep fighting and doing what we can.”

The sentiment was echoed by Fernando Alonso, who believes Alpine are not as quick as their Honda-powered rivals.

“We know that performance-wise AlphaTauri has been outstanding in some of the races,” he said. “In some others, I think we have just been lucky to score points. And in some others I think as a team, we were better.

He agreed that AlphaTauri had fallen short by not being able to consistently score points with both cars. “Maybe we have not the level of competitiveness or we don’t have the speed of the AlphaTauri car, but we were able to execute better races with no mistakes, not be stopped by mistakes from scoring with both cars.

“So there are some strengths for each of the teams and we need to play with our strengths. Let’s see it, will be a close battle until Abu Dhabi.”

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2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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9 comments on “Tsunoda’s progress “a real worry” for Alpine in points fight with AlphaTauri”

  1. The sentiment was echoed by Fernando Alonso, who believes Alpine are not as quick as their Honda-powered rivals.

    Alonso regretting he insulted Honda deeply…

    1. Lol!

      Why is it always Alonso with the GP2 engine?

    2. erikje

      Alonso regretting he insulted Honda deeply…

      As much as Alpine is a stronger bet than AlphaTauri for the future, yeah. Kinda ironic he and his new team are toiling to defeat Honda-powered rivals who are clearly quicker than them. That GP2 engine surely improved a lot!

  2. Still too early to tell if Tsunoda has actually raised his game. Two races does not make a trend.

    1. pastaman

      Still too early to tell if Tsunoda has actually raised his game. Two races does not make a trend.

      He did reach Q3 three times in a row, so for someone who had very few appearances in the pole position shootout before while Gasly shone many times in quali with the same machinery, it was surely an improvement. But Tsunoda still may screw up any moment, as even from those three recent opportunities he squandered one (Turkey) with a costly mistake, scored points in Austin and had not much chance to do something with it in Mexico City.

  3. His name became a verb in Mexico.

    To be tsunoda’d: when a driver ahead on the track moves out of the way and causes the professionals behind to freak out.

    1. Horner has achieved and lost many big things in his life, but he also has a sense of humor, he’s a joker sometimes.

  4. Ocon has a few good races per season.
    And one very lucky win. They should have signed Gasly at Alpine.

    1. Ronny

      Ocon has a few good races per season.
      And one very lucky win. They should have signed Gasly at Alpine.

      I do like the guy but this is increasingly looking as more true than false, unfortunately. His form changes too much throughout a season. But Gasly is an unproven asset outside Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri. It could have been down the circumstances, of course, but in the moment he stepped out of that team, he struggled. He could do well and push Alonso at Alpine, particularly in quali pace, or it could go completely wrong as well.

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