Yuki Tsunoda left stunned by Max Verstappen-Gianpiero Lambiase relationship

Yuki Tsunoda has revealed how impressed he was by the communication between Max Verstappen and his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, something he aspired to achieve himself.

Verstappen has had Lambiase, also known as GP, as his race engineer ever since he joined Red Bull from the 2016 Spanish GP, with an incredible bond having been built between the duo.

As well as being Verstappen's race engineer, Lambiase is Red Bull's head of racing, with him having overseen Tsunoda's chassis this year.

This meant Tsunoda spent a lot of time with the 45-year-old, although that time was impacted whenever Verstappen encountered difficulties.

According to the Japanese driver, Lambiase's focus was very much on Verstappen when the Dutchman endured struggles, something which, while understood by Tsunoda, did impact his own performance.

Tsunoda was left in awe of how Lambiase and Verstappen communicated, particularly during a first practice session, something the now-Red Bull reserve driver was eager to emulate.

"GP is honestly one of the most impressive engineers I've ever worked with," Tsunoda told the Japanese branch of DAZN. "His ideas are incredible.

"He also oversees my chassis, but when Max is struggling, the priority has to be there. My engineering team is very capable, but simply less experienced, so sometimes we needed help. I just couldn't always ask for it.

"I listened to how GP and Max communicated during FP1, and it's completely different.

"You hear how efficiently everything runs. I wanted to achieve that level of communication. If you have to check something with someone else first, you're automatically a step behind."