Yuki Tsunoda got up to speed relatively quickly in his first official session as a Red Bull driver. The 24-year-old went 6th fastest in FP1, setting a very clean lap to finish only a tenth behind Max Verstappen.
In the context surrounding Red Bull in recent years, this was a very encouraging start.
Unfortunately for Tsunoda, four red flags in FP2 prevented him from completing a representative qualifying simulation on soft tyres.
He also didn’t have enough time to complete a race run – which will complicate the Red Bull driver’s weekends.
Still, Tsunoda has a general feel for the RB21.
Yuki Tsunoda: FP1 was a good start, FP2 more difficult
The last few weeks have been chaotic for Red Bull, whose driver swap has dominated F1 headlines in the build-up to Japan.
Tsunoda’s arrival represents a last-minute attempt to reinforce Max Verstappen with a teammate capable of fighting with the other front-runners.
For obvious reasons, Lawson’s brief stint at Red Bull has casted doubt into drivability of the RB21.
Perhaps with a full pre-season at Red Bull, Tsunoda would be in a relatively comfortable place in terms of performance.
However, with just two hours of interrupted running under his belt, qualifying and race day will be a step into the unknown.
Conscious of the task ahead, Tsunoda admits he will be busy with engineers over Friday evening.
“FP1 was better than expected, good start for myself,” he told Sky Sports.
“FP2, yeah, I didn’t set a [representative] laptime. I think lots of work to do.
“Maybe, yeah, slightly struggled – something we have to look through the data in FP2 more.
“But so far, overall it’s OK. Just have to build up the confidence more.”
As expected, a handful of simulator sessions are not adequate preparation for an F1 driver – especially one making their Red Bull debut.
Tsunoda has revealed there are discrepancies between the simulator and the RB21’s actual behaviours on track.
“It’s a bit different to the simulator, what I felt. Maybe a little more than what I expected, in terms of car feeling.
“But erm, yeah, I knew anyway it’s going to be always a bit different in the real car.
“It was just a bit more exaggerated in the real car, yeah, feeling a bit more tricky.”
Red Bull wrestle with tricky RB21
On the opposite side of the Red Bull garage, Max Verstappen also struggled with the RB21’s balance.
In what is becoming a recurring theme for the Milton Keynes outfit, Friday practice exposed a series of fundamental problems.
There is also the issue of potential rain on Sunday, which will further complicate Tsunoda’s debut.
Even if he delivers a fantastic performance to finish in the top 10, a wet race would take away a crucial opportunity to get some experience in the RB21 with a full tank of fuel (in dry conditions).
The good news for Red Bull is that Yuki Tsunoda is already showing encouraging pace, particularly on low fuel.
His qualifying simulation in FP2 (interrupted by the Red Flag just before he crossed the line) would have put him amongst the top 10.
In this sense, Red Bull could be a few clean sessions away from having two drivers in the points and finding some much-needed stability.
Simultaneously, there are still a lot of unknowns for Tsunoda to navigate ahead of race day.
