VCARB needs to improve bad starts

Yuki Tsunoda admits his VCARB Formula 1 team still needs to work on the start after both team drivers valuable places lost in the GP of Emilia Romagna. Starting has been a problem for the Faenza team this year, but the problem was very apparent at Imola as both Tsunoda and his teammate Daniel Ricciardo lost two positions each.

After starting seventh, Tsunoda ran ninth for much of the race, but lost a place to Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in the closing laps, the latter helped by newer tyres.

He believed that with a better start he would have achieved a better result in the end then the 10th he eventually earned.

“With a perfect race I probably could have finished a step higher,” said the Japanese driver when asked about his race by this writer.

“Certainly that start where I lost two positions hurt my race today, but I was still able to finish in the points. It wasn’t easy with tire management. Still, we’ll take it.”

Tsunoda admitted that losing two spots outside the line proved to be costly.

“It’s clearly not ideal, especially if you’re aiming for probably more battles with Mercedes,” he said.

“Today I even lost a position to one of the Astons. Certainly Aston had good pace today. But still, we could have finished ahead of him. So yes, that start certainly hurts a lot.

“The positive thing is that we can still make it work with a hard tire for 50 laps, which wasn’t easy. And I think that is certainly positive for us.”

Tsunoda admitted that starts are an ongoing problem for VCARB.

“It’s kind of a topic within our team,” he said. “We are working very hard on the two starts during the races so far. We have improved a little bit, but we definitely need one more step because I would say consistency is not enough there. So we have to look to the future.”

When asked what needs to be improved, he replied:

“I thought it was the preparation of the tires and I think we have done a lot of preparation, but it is not enough.

“I think it comes down to consistency with the clutch. I will say that Red Bull has the same engine and they can have a consistent start.

“So sure, there is something we are missing, or we need to improve. But obviously we are an individual team, so we have to think about our strategy to make it work.”

Tsunoda showed good pace from the start of the Imola weekend and after finishing fourth in Q1 and third in Q2, he was disappointed with his eventual seventh grid spot.

When asked if he expected a similar format in other locations, he said:

“It depends on the track. I mean, to be honest, this week in Imola I didn’t expect so much performance, and obviously at every track there is always something that suits this track or not.

“In Monaco I performed well historically, so I go into the race week with more confidence, but of course we never know what will happen. I am optimistic about Monaco. And we will continue with the development.”