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AlphaTauri launch the AT02

Tsunoda sets aggressive target on making F1 history

AlphaTauri launch the AT02 — Photo: © LAT Images

Tsunoda sets aggressive target on making F1 history

No Japanese driver has won an F1 race

AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda has set himself the lofty target of becoming the first Japanese driver to win in Formula 1.

At the Bahrain Grand Prix, Tsunoda will become the 10th Japanese driver to race full-time in F1, and the first since Kamui Kobayashi retired from the sport at the end of 2014.

Aguri Suzuki, Takuma Sato and Kobayashi have each stood on the podium once with a third-place finish, a fact 20-year-old Tsunoda hopes to change.

Following the the launch of the AT02, Tsunoda said: “I just want to beat the other drivers and I also want to be the first Japanese driver to win a race in Formula 1.”

Just as Max Verstappen was the youngest driver on the grid when making his debut for the team in 2015 when it was then known as Toro Rosso, Tsunoda is the youngest for the coming season.

Tsunoda, who is also the first driver on the grid to have been born since the turn of the millennium, insists his young age is not adding any extra weight to his shoulders.

“I don’t think it’s worth putting too much emphasis on age, as Max Verstappen was 17 when he started," added Tsunoda.

"But I feel it’s an honour to be the first driver on the grid to be born in 2000.

“I’m really excited to get started. The biggest thing for me will be lining up on the grid with so many superstars of the sport.

"It’s an absolute honour to be competing against some of the greatest drivers in the world.”

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