Yuki Tsunoda has asserted that his FP1 result in Las Vegas demonstrated that he is holding more confidence behind the wheel of the Red Bull challenger.
Tsunoda ended the opening session of the weekend in third place, one position ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen.
The Japanese driver navigated the low-grip conditions as the sun set in Las Vegas, ending the session behind only Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon while various drivers endured off-track excursions.
It marked the first time this year Tsunoda has ended a practice session inside the top three, and although his FP2 result saw him slip outside the top 10, he was left content with his day's work.
“Overall, good confidence in how I ended up today,” he said. “It was a shame about FP2, I had a bit of issues but I think the pace is there.
“It’s something that we faced a little bit differently to what I felt in FP1, but it’s part of the learning. We recovered - not fully - but in the right direction.
“Even that, the pace was still okay. I think it was good testing the car as well. Just putting it all together [for Saturday].”
Tsunoda has struggled for results throughout the year and, as a result, is fighting for his F1 future at Red Bull.
The 25-year-old has consistently faced difficulties extracting pace from the car and building his confidence throughout race weekends, but signalled his FP1 performance in Las Vegas is an example of being able to deliver in certain conditions.
“Especially at this low grip track, you want to have good confidence in the car,” he said.
“It shows at least, a little bit, that my confidence is there and I’m able to control, pretty well, this car.
“It’s something to nail slightly more.
“It wasn’t very quick in FP2, I think Ferrari is pretty quick. The four teams are very, very tight. We still have to find a little bit more speed from the car.
“I hope and I’m sure that we’ll find something overnight from that car set-up that we’re comparing [to].”
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