Yuki Tsunoda: Daniel Ricciardo's arrival pushes me to improve

Yuki Tsunoda believes that the arrival of his experienced new AlphaTauri F1 teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, has increased the pressure on him.

During the first ten rounds of the season, the focus at AlphaTauri was mostly on the full-time rookie Nyck de Vries and his struggles to adapt to F1. He faced criticism from Red Bull bosses Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.

Nyck de Vries, who was the FIA Formula 2 and Formula E champion, was eventually replaced by the eight-time grand prix winner Daniel Ricciardo after being sacked post-Silverstone.

Ricciardo's return generated significant media attention, and he even compared it to winning a world championship.

Tsunoda acknowledged that the situation became challenging for him, feeling like he was somewhat flying under the radar.

However, he also mentioned that competing with Ricciardo has been a valuable learning experience, despite the heightened pressure that led to a few mistakes along the way.

"It's challenging. But at the same time, I know that this current situation is completely new for me," Tsunoda told Motorsport.com.

"I'm learning a lot, especially getting challenged by an experienced driver. And not only is he an experienced driver, he's a top driver and we know that he's fast.

"I already know he is fast but also how he's behaving in the team is like probably the opposite as me.

"So, lots of things to learn, a lot from him.

"It's also a bit of pressure for myself and probably that made me rush and a couple of mistakes in the last couple of races.

"But I was able to put it all together in the last race [Spa, 10th place]. It was not easy. But just happy and feeling ready for a fight with him in the second half of the season."