F1 News: AlphaTauri boss explains why Yuki Tsunoda has deserved better this year

AlphaTauri remains confident in Yuki Tsunoda.

Yuki Tsunoda will be expected to take a forward step and lead AlphaTauri next season after Pierre Gasly's decision to depart for Alpine. 

Tsunoda has made significant progress with AlphaTauri, and is now considerably closer to the more experienced Gasly in both qualifying and race trim.

Despite this improvement, the pressure will intensify for Tsunoda next season - given that he will look to demonstrate a meaningful pace advantage over newcomer Nyck de Vries. 

De Vries is an experienced driver who is well respected, so there is no need for panic if the Dutchman takes some headlines and produces some good performances next year. 

However, Tsunoda will be entering his third season in F1 in 2023 and will therefore be granted less margin for error than he has received in the last two years. 

Tsunoda's raw pace has never been in question, with his debut last season (alongside his impressive campaign in Formula 2) indicative of his potential. 

Because of this, AlphaTauri and Red Bull have been willing to continue investing in his F1 career and development despite his occasional blunders. 

These mistakes have become less frequent as Tsunoda has gained more experience, but the 22-year-old cannot allow De Vries to outperform him in his first F1 season. 

An F1-calibre talent is more than capable of emerging from the Red Bull Academy in 2023, so neither AlphaTauri driver can afford to be second-best. 

Speaking to the media in Mexico, Franz Tost explained his satisfaction with Tsunoda's performances:

"A driver always needs a good result, of course. 

"I must say that Yuki did really good races in the past and was always close to some points. 

"But because of various reasons, he couldn't score them.

"Fortunately, in Austin, he got everything together with the team so that he could score these points."