Final yr, Yuki Tsunoda was the one rookie driver to be paired with a non-rookie staff mate, and it confirmed.
This partnership was among the many most one-sided on the grid in 2021, Pierre Gasly virtually all the time out-qualifying Tsunoda and exhibiting him the way in which residence. To Tsunoda’s reduction, he put one over his staff mate on the remaining race, and went into the low season on a excessive.
He has fared higher on his return, reducing his deficit to Gasly in each space. However there could also be extra to this than meets the attention.
Sadly for each drivers, their automobile has proved considerably much less aggressive than its predecessor. Worse, the replace the staff launched in France doesn’t appear to have introduced the leap ahead they hoped for, or has been cancelled out by the features made by their rivals.
Because of this the pair head into the summer season break having collected simply three points-scoring finishes every. There might need been one other, at Silverstone, however a poorly-judged transfer by Tsunoda on his staff mate ruined each drivers’ races.
The present state of affairs doesn’t actually go well with both driver. If Tsunoda is to win the religion of Purple Bull, and keep away from his seat being nabbed by one in every of their swathes of junior drivers, he must out-perform Gasly.
Tsunoda vs Gasly season abstract
In the meantime Gasly has already had a shot at Purple Bull and a return earlier than 2025 isn’t going to occur. With a view to impress one other high staff he must decisively put Tsunoda in his shadow.
Incidents like Silverstone will make it tougher to do this. And it’s not the one misfortune Gasly has encountered this yr. In Monaco he not directly suffered at his staff mate’s hand, lacking his probability to progress to Q1 after Tsunoda triggered a purple flag, and beginning close to the again having run effectively inside the highest 10 earlier than qualifying. He ought to have been in Q3 in Austria however the stewards tousled a observe limits name on Sergio Perez.
On different events Gasly has mounted spectacular recoveries from poor beginning positions however not been rewarded with factors scores. He took twelfth after Imola after being hit by Zhou Guanyu within the dash race, eleventh in Monaco after his qualifying misfortune was particularly spectacular, and twelfth in Hungary after falling foul of a debatable observe limits name in qualifying.
If Gasly will get a change in fortune within the second half of 2022, Tsunoda could now not measure up fairly so effectively in opposition to him.
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Tsunoda vs Gasly race-by-race
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Tsunoda vs Gasly qualifying efficiency
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2022 F1 season
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