With no rookies on the Formula 1 grid in 2024, this season has been an interesting study on how the younger drivers in the paddock are improving year on year.
While the car also plays a huge role in F1, drivers can be judged on their intra-team battles and there are a few pairings where the contest has been very one-sided.
Speaking on the DRS: De Race Show, former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde shared his thoughts on one driver who has improved massively in the last 12 months.
A few drivers deserve to be recognised at this stage of the season, including Lando Norris off the back of his first Formula 1 win.
Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg have taken the lead roles at Alpine and Haas respectively.
The German has already earned a move to Sauber as a result and Ocon could end up at Williams next season.
However, Van der Garde wanted to highlight how well Yuki Tsunoda has driven for Visa Cash App RB in 2024.
Tsunoda – who has entered 72 F1 races, but only started 69 – faced a difficult challenge at the start of the campaign.
His seat looks much more secure after just six races and his points tally reflects how well he’s driven this year.
READ MORE: Visa Cash App RB driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents
Giedo van der Garde hails ‘huge step’ Yuki Tsunoda has taken in 2024
At the start of the season, Yuki Tsunoda was entering his fourth campaign with the Red Bull sister team.
All of the hype around the team focused on Daniel Ricciardo’s full-time return and he was even tipped to secure a couple of podiums.
However, the Australian had a really slow start to the season and it was up to Tsunoda to help RB get the better of their rivals in a really congested bottom half of the grid.
In Australia, he achieved a brilliant 7-place finish before scoring the final point at his home race in Japan.
While Kevin Magnussen ended his race in China, he scored another seven points over the Miami race weekend.
Van der Garde has praised how well Tsunoda has done in 2024 and highlights the complete mindset change the 23-year-old has undergone recently.
In fact, it was his DNF in China that really stood out to the Dutchman.
Yuki Tsunoda going from strength to strength at V-CARB
Talking about the young Japanese driver, Van der Garde said: “In the junior classes, I was like, ‘This is a really talented driver who can drive a very fast car’.
“Of course, you have to deal with many more aspects in Formula 1, media, a large team, more engineers and the rest.
“You have to have self-control and I think he has worked very hard on that.
“At one point he said, I’m going to Italy, I want to live near the team, he had a coach.
“Yes, I think he has taken a huge step in this regard because in China of course, we had it on the on-board radio, ‘I’m out’.
“Well, normally last year, the year before, he went completely wild on the radio, so you can just see that the boy is making progress and he is just doing fantastically well because I mean in the main race he scored six points and in the Sprint Race he scored one point.”
What’s the next step for Yuki Tsunoda?
Helmut Marko has been one of the harshest critics of Yuki Tsunoda in the past, but very much agrees with Van der Garde that he’s been ‘sensational’ in 2024.
The gap between the top five teams and the bottom five teams is considerable but slowly closing.
It shows how well Tsunoda is driving this year that he currently sits above Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll in the Drivers’ Championship.
Tsunoda isn’t expected to be in consideration for a seat at Red Bull, meaning he might be hoping for a fifth campaign with V-CARB next year.
He’s also got a connection with Honda and their switch to supplying Aston Martin with power units in 2026 could offer him a chance to drive for a works team.
The post ‘Worked very hard’: Giedo van der Garde hails ‘really talented’ 72-race star, he’s taken a ‘huge step’ in 2024 appeared first on F1 Oversteer.
