Tsunoda: "I looked at the data and he is very good especially in fast corners"

One of the drivers who drove his first official test in an F1-car on Friday was Yuki Tsunoda. He was immediately fast and was close to teammate Pierre Gasly. The circumstances in which the two drove were very different, but the Japanese driver couldn't resist measuring himself against his new teammate.

"It wasn't the same conditions, but the gap is indeed not very big," he told Ziggo Sport. "He also drove his times on the medium tyre and I on the hard. But the conditions were completely different. In the afternoon there was a lot of sand on the track and the temperature was lower. So I would like to say I was faster than Pierre, but we are definitely close."

"I will still have to work hard to keep up with Pierre. I looked at the data and he is very good, especially in the fast corners. I just need to get faster gradually and gain confidence in the downforce of a Formula One car."

Tsunoda sees heroes

Tsunoda is currently the youngest driver in Formula One. He first encountered Formula 1 as a child when Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen were already winning their first world title. He, therefore, finds it very special to now drive the circuit together with those drivers.

"Yes, this is really a dream come true. Especially when I see Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, but also Kimi Raikkonen. When I was about seven or eight years old, I attended my first F1 race in Fuji. They were already driving for McLaren there then," Tsunoda said.