RB workforce principal Laurent Mekies is assured there’s much more to come back from Yuki Tsunoda after extending his contract by the 2025 season.
Tsunoda has been one of many standout performers of the 2024 season to date, scoring factors in 5 of the 9 races this 12 months and customarily getting the higher of teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Mekies was impressed by the progress Tsunoda constituted of final 12 months to this, however says the workforce sees much more potential within the 24-year-old that it needs to unlock.
“What’s stopping us from sleeping at evening is ensuring we now have the setting for the weeks, months, years to come back, that make sure that we get Yuki to have one other step,” Mekies instructed RACER. “Or a couple of step. We don’t need him to cease now, we predict there’s extra in Yuki.
“Despite the fact that he’s already at an unbelievable stage, we predict there’s extra to come back for what he’s exhibiting. So we simply have to verify we now have the correct mix of constructive dynamics and aggression to verify we get these steps out of him.”
Tsunoda himself is assured that step ahead will come, and has felt the transition at RB from former boss Franz Tost to Mekies has been a clean one which has additionally helped his personal performances.
“When it comes to workforce principal, Franz and Laurent really feel fairly much like be sincere,” Tsunoda stated. “They provide me rather a lot, we now have pure chats each morning at any time when we meet, and I really feel huge assist from each, which I actually recognize.
“One factor that has been a constructive change as a workforce is that it looks like the entire engineering workforce and the mechanics have grow to be extra related to one another. So the philosophy that Laurent needs to realize was possibly a unique strategy to Franz, and has helped the workforce to be a bit extra collectively.
“That connection, for me, is essential, and I worth it rather a lot. It offers us some further motivation to work as a workforce in the identical course and ensure we’re on the identical web page with each element. I attempt to be aligned with these issues.”
