After three races this season, it’s already started to become clear who has adapted to their team’s new car quickly and who still has some work to do.
The Japanese Grand Prix offers drivers another opportunity to show whether they’re on top of their machinery with the pressure beginning to build on a few people up and down the grid.
Speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast, Damon Hill singled out one driver who has caught his attention during the opening trio of Grand Prix.
Anyone who can win a race during this era of Max Verstappen dominance deserves credit and Carlos Sainz fits into that category.
In his search for a new race seat in 2025, he’s put himself in the conversation for every top team.
Oscar Piastri has continued where he left off after his rookie season with back-to-back fourth-place finishes in Jeddah and Melbourne.
However, Damon Hill wanted to talk about how impressed he’s been with Yuki Tsunoda this season.
The 23-year-old scored six points in Australia and is showing teammate Daniel Ricciardo how it’s done in the VCARB 01.
READ MORE: Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents
Damon Hill seriously impressed with Yuki Tsunoda this season
Before the beginning of the season, if you asked Formula 1 fans who they thought would lose their seat to accommodate Liam Lawson next season, many of them would have said Yuki Tsunoda would be the man sacrificed.
After three full seasons with Visa Cash App RB, he’s reached the point of his career where he needs to kick on.
With many people expecting Ricciardo to push Sergio Perez for his Red Bull seat, it’s Tsunoda who has proven to be the stronger RB driver this year.
He was faster than his teammate in Bahrain while Ricciardo was hampered by a lengthy pit stop in Saudi Arabia.
However, it was in Australia where Tsunoda impressed the most and Hill has been talking about how ‘brilliantly’ the 23-year-old has done.
The top five teams should theoretically have both drivers in Q3 at every race weekend but Tsunoda crashed that party last weekend, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton the man to miss out.
He was then the best of the rest and benefitted from Fernando Alonso’s time penalty to secure a fantastic result for Laurent Mekies’s team.
Yuki Tsunoda going from strength to strength in Visa Cash App RB
Talking about the RB team’s drivers, Hill said: “Now, the other thing is, it’s a bit sad for us to interpret this as being Danny’s [Ricciardo] lost form. Yuki’s [Tsunoda] gained form, he’s driving brilliantly!
“He’s driving very well, so it’s a little bit unfair to diminish Yuki’s performance just because we assume that Daniel should be beating him.
“I think Tsunoda has moved on leaps and bounds!”
The trouble Tsunoda faces despite the likes of Hill being impressed with him this season is where does he go next.
RB are never going to offer him a car that regularly challenges for race wins or even podiums.
However, he’s not currently under consideration for the sister team and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
Christian Horner also has concerns about how Tsunoda would cope with being Max Verstappen’s teammate.
He’s recently admitted that he’s thinking about his future outside of the Red Bull family.
After his six-point haul in Melbourne, he said: “I do want as much as I can to show the performance even to the other teams.
“I just want to increase my value as a driver [and show] that I can fight pretty strong.
“I don’t know what’s going on with Red Bull, but hopefully they will strongly consider [me] as well.”
He may end up giving Red Bull an ultimatum they have to consider – either promote me or lose me.
The post ‘Driving very well’: Damon Hill seriously impressed with 23-year-old who’s come on ‘leaps and bounds’ in 2024 appeared first on F1 Oversteer.