Toro Rosso says Naoki Yamamoto was “impressive” on F1 debut

Toro Rosso have hailed Naoki Yamamoto’s debut in Formula 1 “impressive” after he took part in FP1 on Friday in Suzuka at the Japanese Grand Prix in front of home fans.

Yamamoto, the Super Formula and Super GT champion was given the chance to take part in a practice session in Pierre Gasly’s STR14 in Japan in front of his home crowd putting in a lap time of 1:32.018, just a tenth down on Daniil Kvyat.
 
Yamamoto had apologised to Gasly for taking his seat in FP1, something the Frenchman said was “no big deal” and gave the japanese driver some tips which looked to have paid off.
 
"It was great to welcome Naoki to the team and give him the opportunity to drive the STR14 in FP1 – the atmosphere around the paddock and garage created by Naoki driving the STR Honda in Suzuka was fantastic," said Jonathan Eddolls, Toro Rosso's chief race engineer (quoted by MotorsportWeek).
 
"He drove Pierre’s car and did an extremely solid job for the team. From his first lap you could tell he was on it and he built up the pace lap to lap during this run.
 
“Switching to the Option compound for the second run, he extracted the expected improvement in grip from the track and tyre, setting a competitive lap time.
 
"He obviously knows the circuit well but this was an impressive session for his first outing in an F1 car!"
 
Yamamoto himself was surprised at the power of F1 cars in comparison to Super Formula.
 
"I spent the session getting used to the car; the power is amazing!,” he said.
 
“I was very surprised, I have never felt such power before, so that was the biggest difference between Super Formula and Formula 1.”