Yuki Tsunoda believes AlphaTauri must bring "good updates" that cure the inherent grip problems that persist in their car, after a lacklustre start to the season for the team. Tsunoda finished in 11th behind Williams driver Alex Albon, after the Japanese driver had a poor start and dropped behind him and struggled to pass the low-drag car. By contrast teammate Nyck de Vries finished in P14 and one lap down from the leader, having been promoted in the closing stages as Zhou Guanyu pitted deliberately to set the fastest lap. "I think the start was kind of decisive, I lost a couple of positions and at the first lap it was really hard to maintain pace," said Tsunoda to media, including RacingNews365.com . "We are still far away from the pace I think we wanted. I was basically driving behind the cars and just sliding around, overheating the tyres. "So we just need more grip in general and hopefully we can develop through the seasons, but we just need more as soon as possible good updates otherwise we will continue like this all year."
AlphaTauri 12kph slower than Williams
The AT04 was promised to be much better car compared to its predecessor, after the team spoke about curing their inherent weight problems from last season. However the car still suffers badly on the straights due to the amount of drag it generates, according to Tsunoda, leaving them up to 12kph slower than Williams at points. "Well currently we are just over 12kph slower than Williams without DRS, so that's quite a lot," Tsunoda summed up. "[We have] too much drag and at the same time we don't have much grip to regain that kind of drag. So, like I said, just need grip - either grip or less drag."
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