Tsunoda seeks to improve “emotion control” working with Ricciardo

Ricciardo, who was paid to leave McLaren for 2023, returned to front-line F1 duty in Hungary to replace sacked AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries.

But he sustained a broken bone in his left hand in a practice crash at Zandvoort to leave substitute Liam Lawson to fill in for five rounds.

Ricciardo returns to the cockpit this weekend for the United States Grand Prix. Now that he and Tsunoda have signed for AlphaTauri for 2024, they must establish a working relationship.

As this grows, Tsunoda says he is looking at Ricciardo to help improve his “emotion control”.

Asked by Motorsport.com about Ricciardo’s injury return in Austin, Tsunoda said: “Looking forward to it. We've just had two races, so I haven't fully explored enough his character or how he drives.

“But already learned lots of things from him. Especially the weakness I have and what I want to improve now is probably one of the best things that he is good at.”

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Daniel Ricciardo, Scuderia AlphaTauri, with Yuki Tsunoda, Scuderia AlphaTauri

Prompted to clarify this area of weakness, Tsunoda pointed to his “emotion control”.

Tsunoda has gained some notoriety for his more colourful outbursts on team radio and has previously mentioned that he has sought psychological guidance.

He continued: “More like emotion control and how he behaves in teams. He's really good. That's really key, especially when you drive 24 races a year and drive consistently.

“That's the most important thing and he's experienced so he probably knows what he can improve, what the team is asking for.

“So, he's much more calm than me. That's probably one of the things I want to improve now.”

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Yuki Tsunoda, Scuderia AlphaTauri

Tsunoda added that while his and Ricciardo’s relationship is still very new, already he reckoned they fed back similar information on the car.

“I just don't know properly yet about him but I think we feedback about the cars and information what I got from him has been fairly similar,” he said. “I think we're working pretty well, as a team as well.

“So, looking forward to working with him next year as well.”