AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda admits he needs to reset his ambitions after “aiming too high” in the wake of his impressive F1 debut in Bahrain.<\/p>\n
At Sakhir, at the opening round of F&’s 2021 season, Tsunoda made a big impression on the paddock when he finished P9 in his first F1 race.<\/p>\n
But a big crash at Imola in qualifying followed by more errors and muted performances in the following three races – including last weekend in Monaco – have encouraged the Japanese charger to review his expectations.<\/p>\n
“From Bahrain, when we were good even like having mistakes in qualifying Q2 and dropped out in Q2, but still went well, and I got points in the first race,” Tsunoda said on the latest Beyond the Grid<\/em> podcast.<\/p>\n “So, I think from there, especially, I aimed quite high. The next race was Imola. And I was aiming for, like, top five like that.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n “So I think, for sure, I was aiming too high and in qualifying, I tried to put like amazing lap, dream lap and especially in Q1, you don’t have to do that kind of lap in Q1.<\/p>\n “My attitude and motivation was like that and went to the wall. So I think, in the beginning of the year, I was aiming too high.”<\/p>\n As he resets his prospects and opts for a more conservative approach, Tsunoda says he’s still getting acquainted with F1 and still wrestling with AlphaTauri’s AT02.<\/p>\n “Yeah, I think for me, I’m not feeling like fully controlling a car still,” he explained.<\/p>\n “But up to like, for example, 80% or 70%, it was not too difficult. Just like you have more downforce, you can just have more confidence to go out and send it in the car.<\/p>\n “With Formula 2, we have a heavier car, more unstable on entry especially so you can feel the car more.<\/p>\n “In Formula 1, if you go above the limit, you just have a snap and go into the barrier.<\/p>\n “So, until you find the limit, it’s not too difficult but it’s hard to find the 99 or 100 percent limit without any, for example, crash or spin.”<\/p>\n Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers<\/p>\n Keep up to date with all the F1 news via <\/em>Facebook<\/em> and <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n\nRead also: Tsunoda suffers another angry reprimand from Marko\n<\/ul>\n