AlphaTauri Formula 1 driver Yuki Tsunoda has revealed that he would like to do a better job at controlling his temper on the team radio.
Tsunoda’s at-times profane radio messages have attracted a lot of attention during this season and there have been mixed reactions from the fans.
Tsunoda has accepted that his temper problem behind the wheel is his ‘main topic’ to control during the upcoming races.
What did Tsunoda say?
“Even me I don’t know why I get to heat up,” Tsunoda said.
“I really like to do lap by myself maybe, naturally, like I don’t want to have something disturb my push lap. Especially if I [am] having quite good lap.
“I think most of the drivers have same feeling, but just… yeah it’s I think controlling myself is now main topic for me, 100%.”
While there are some who acknowledge the Japanese driver’s passion, some incidents raise questions on his professional etiquettes.
For instance, during his post-qualifying in Spain, he was dumped out of Q1 behind Pierre Gasly. This led to a bout of explosive comments over the radio which later led the Japanese to apologize to the team.
Was fully out of control: Tsunoda
“In Barcelona I was like fully out of control. I don’t have to, but just I pressed the radio – I don’t know why – but just shouted at them,” he said. “So, this is definitely now my weak point.
“I think radio communication is the most important thing for Formula 1, especially. So [there] is just no point to shout on the radio. If you want to have something, advice from them, you just have to be really calm and tell what the issue is.
“But if you just shout, they can’t do anything, you know. So, I think radio is my main topic for now.”
Tsunoda appreciates support from boss
Tsunoda also had words of appreciation for AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost who remained calm during his outburst.
“He’s really calm and he always, I think, supports drivers,” Tsunoda added.
“Also, for example, he knows Sebastian Vettel well, he saw directly how he managed to be a successful driver. So, he doesn’t force me to do like this or like that, just try to tell me the advice.
“Even after Imola he just laughed at me. Not like in a bad way, you know, like “shit happens”. Or “I think you push too much” and [things] like that. He didn’t say like ‘what did you do?’ and ‘what is it, these mistakes?’
“And even after Barcelona when I was saying [on the] radio this really bad thing, even he said like ‘you don’t have to worry about radio, this radio is almost nothing, so just focus on driving and talk to engineer about what was the issue’, and ‘you have to make the car do what you want’, you know?
“For me he’s kind, and he also sometimes [can] be strict, but it’s in a good way.”
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