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SUZUKA, Japan :Red Bull new recruit Yuki Tsunoda has been told to get as close to his world champion teammate Max Verstappen as possible at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend and he certainly delivered in the first practice session on Friday.
Brought in from Racing Bulls as a replacement for the struggling Liam Lawson last week, the 24-year-old delighted his home crowd at Suzuka by steering the tricky RB21 to the sixth-fastest time, only a tenth of a second behind Verstappen.
It was an encouraging start for Tsunoda, even if four red flags meant he did not have a chance to back it up in the second session.
"I think we can say today was okay, but it could have been better," Tsunoda said.
"FP1 was better than FP2, I gained a lot more learnings. We didn't set a lap time in FP2 due to the number of stops in the session, you could maybe call the session a shambles for everyone.
"Overall, it is okay and I am happy to have confidence in the car. "
Tsunoda's aptitude came as no surprise to Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies, who watched him mature as a driver under his charge last season and for the first two races of this campaign.
"We have seen him being more calm, being more mature, improving massively his technical feedback," the Frenchman told reporters on Friday.
"Really quite an incredible step across the last 12 months, and this is converting to speed ... I think it was a very impressive example of improvement. You can sense how much effort and concentration he's been putting into that."
Although Japan has long had a presence in Formula One through the grand prix, car manufacturers and tyre producers, none of the 18 Japanese drivers who have competed in the championship have ever won a race.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said having Tsunoda in one of the leading teams could end up being a game-changer for the sport in Japan.
"Certainly after a bit of a dip in popularity of Formula One in Japan, I think the interest is definitely coming back," he said.
"(Yuki) has made a massive step that was visible to everyone, and for a Japanese driver to drive for one of the top teams, it's never happened before.
"That's a huge story and that's really gaining momentum again here ... I can only see positive signs. So yeah, a really exciting time."
