Yuki Tsunoda urges AlphaTauri to improve reliability issues

Yuki Tsunoda has urged his AlphaTauri team to try and get on top of the reliability issues they are having at the start of this new Formula 1 season.

The Faenza-based team has had a bit of bad luck so far this year, with Pierre Gasly’s car catching fire at the Bahrain Grand Prix, whilst Tsunoda didn’t even make the start of the race in Saudi Arabia last weekend thanks to a fault.

Points have been scored, of course, and that shows that there is pace in the car when it does finish but getting both cars over the line at the end of a race would certainly aid their cause.

That said, then, Tsunoda has urged his team to try and get on top of their current troubles.

Speaking after the retirement in Saudi last weekend, he said:

“It’s such a shame that we are having these problems two times in a row and for us it’s two rounds in a row. We cannot continue like this, we have to solve this reliability issue as soon as possible, to have more consistent results.

“Even though I was starting P19, anything can happen, maybe it was possible to be in the points. It’s such a shame… in Bahrain, the race pace was quite good. From also my side, disappointed that I could not have the experience to improve myself, but it is what it is.”

Tsunoda is a very quick driver and towards the end of last season he started to show better consistency.

His qualifying in Saudi wasn’t great with him set to line up P19, but in Bahrain he scored points and so he is off of the mark in the championship.

The AT03 is clearly a competitive enough car, then, but without reliability that all counts for very little.