"I have to overtake him!": Yuki Tsunoda picks one driver he wants to pass on the track this F1 season

Yuki Tsunoda claims he is eager to overtake his former teammate Pierre Gasly on track this season. The two drivers split at the end of the 2022 season, with Gasly choosing to go with Alpine for the 2023 season.

The Japanese driver and Gasly were inseparable during their shared stint with AlphaTauri in 2021 and 2022. However, since the Frenchman left for Alpine at the beginning of the 2023 season, the dynamic between the two has shifted from that of teammates to rivals.

Yuki Tsunoda hopes to establish himself as the better driver by overtaking Gasly on track. The two drivers battled in Bahrain and Jeddah, with the Frenchman emerging victorious on both occasions.

Speaking to the Beyond the Grid podcast, Yuki Tsunoda spoke about the state of the midfield and battling with his former teammate:

"I think they have a bit of an advantage for now so hopefully, we can close that gap. In Bahrain, we had a bit of a fight between us. It was quite a long battle, which I enjoyed. In Saudi, I got a bit of luck, and I ended up in front of him."

"At that point, he passed me slightly easier than Bahrain. Hopefully, one day, I can pass him. So far, I’ve been overtaken every time, so at some point, I have to overtake him!"

Yuki Tsunoda on racing with his childhood hero

Yuki Tsunoda is overjoyed to race alongside his childhood F1 idol Fernando Alonso. Despite being born just 10 months prior to Alonso's F1 debut at the 2001 Australian GP, the experience feels surreal for the young Japanese driver.

Observing the two-time world champion, Tsunoda asserts that he has acquired a considerable amount of knowledge about racing. He never imagined that he would one day compete against his role model.

As a child, Tsunoda had been an avid fan of the Spanish world champion. He first watched Alonso race at the Suzuka circuit when he was only 12 years old.

Speaking about how surreal it is to be racing against his idol, Yuki Tsunoda told the Beyond the Grid podcast:

“I still can’t believe I’m racing with him. It’s incredible. I never would have expected it to race him in 13 years. We’ve swapped the helmet, which was something I wanted even before I was an F1 driver. But I was too nervous, so I never asked him.”

The two drivers swapped helmets in a show of support at the 2022 Spanish GP, marking the realization of a dream for the young AlphaTauri driver.