
Yuki Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri struggles in the 2023 season, with the driver bemoaning the efficiency of the brakes.
A frequent radio message during the Monaco GP was Yuki Tsunoda’s back-and-forth with his engineer with complaints about his car’s brakes. His engineer encouraged him to improve his time in the braking zones; in response, Tsunoda barked down the comms, “I know but the brake sucks!”
Similar complaints were heard by former teammate Pierre Gasly last year, with his Alpha Tauri being very unpredictable during braking. According to Tsunoda, the problem has persisted this year, singling out the efficiency of the brakes. The brakes do not warm enough, so they do not generate enough heat or traction, rendering the car nearly undrivable around a wet Principality circuit.
Tsunoda felt helpless in the car with such a lack of control that he felt “like a passenger” during the race. Ultimately, it was a disappointing weekend for Alpha Tauri. Tsunoda felt the car had a good pace and a well-timed pitstop, put the team in a strong position with the possibility of a points finish. However, the brake inefficiency was amplified in the dangerous rainy conditions, with Tsunoda going off-track at Mirabeau and tumbling down the order. Tsunoda finished a dismal P15, outside the points and behind his teammate Nyck DeVries for the first time all season.
A week later, Barcelona provided hope. AlphaTauri tweaked the brake approach for the weekend to have a “more aggressive temperature”, which seemed to work in his favour. Tsunoda finished the weekend P12 after being forced to serve a somewhat controversial 5-second penalty for pushing Zhou Guanyu off-track. Despite the no-points finish, Tsunoda was pleased with the team’s performance in Spain.
Sadly, a disheartening Canadian GP yielded mediocre results again. Tsunoda commented that the “car performance was okay, though not as good as Barcelona.” An underwhelming finish placed AlphaTauri last in the Constructor’s standings after Alex Albon scored a magnificent P7 for Williams.
At the start of the season, Helmut Marko wished for the team to finish P5 in the Constructor’s standings. With 14 races remaining in the season, it will be interesting to see how AlphaTauri copes with its performance problems and where it manages to finish the year.
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