Yuki Tsunoda isn’t ruling out the possibility of one day running in the Indianapolis 500, but not anytime soon.
The 24-year-old, who competes for Red Bull’s sister outfit RB in Formula 1, drove an Indy car for the first time on Tuesday as part of a celebration of Honda’s ‘Hybrid Heroes’ ahead of this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. The outing, which also saw three-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen drive the Acura ARX-06 GTP entry, came on an estimated 1.3-mile road course at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
After being coached up by six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, Tsunoda made a couple of runs that lasted roughly a combined half-hour, and it was very evident he was pushing the limit right away. And the smile from the affable Japanese driver was wider than usual once he climbed out of the cockpit of the No. 93 entry that was prepared by Chip Ganassi Racing.
During the event, Tsunoda took part in a select media roundtable, where Motorsport.com asked if this experience provided interest in stepping into an Indycar more in the future if an opportunity was presented – potentially mirroring the path of ex-F1 castoff and fellow countryman Takuma Sato, a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.
“If I have [an] opportunity and I feel it’s the right time, for sure I would love to,” Tsunoda said. “I like the US itself, so I don’t mind living here as well.
“But I feel like it’s not the time because I can’t imagine I am driving at [Indianapolis Motor Speedway], more than a two-hour race and we do more than 200 mph or whatever every lap. For me, it’s scary. I can’t imagine myself driving more than two hours and being in that car. I don’t know. For now, I [am not] really aiming or thinking about IndyCar, but yeah, why not in the future?”
Tsunoda provided more thought regarding his take on the oval racing that is a significant part of North America’s premier open-wheel championship.
“Not afraid, but definitely doesn’t feel fully comfortable driving an oval,” Tsunoda said. “I respect the drivers a lot. Driving [Indianapolis] the two hours, like how can this driver drive in a circle, literally two hours next to the wall every lap. If you have a collision, it can be really, really big as well, so those things I can’t imagine right now. And right now, I’m not really thinking about the ovals.
Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team
Photo by: Honda
“You know, [the Indy 500] is such a cool competition and most of the drivers will dream about being there, but currently I don’t have that target [or] anything. Once I start getting a bit older and my mentality of things change, maybe I’ll try at that point; drink the milk at the end of the race, hopefully.”
As far as what it was like to drive an Indycar, Tsunoda wasn’t fazed by the lack of power steering due to the slow-speed corners of the circuit layout, but did work up a sweat after sitting behind the aeroscreen for the first time, opposite of the Halo in F1.
Additionally, though, the joy he felt behind the wheel reminded him more of his karting days as he was able to attack each corner.
“It just feels a bit more like karting – you can play around more,” he said. “Formula 1 cars are controlled by the systems, electronics, but this car feels more direct, so you have to still control the activation phase to control the sliding of the rear; that feels quite nice, especially [since] you can drift around a little bit [and] slide around in the car. So, that feels nice. Straightaway I felt comfortable, so able to push a little bit more.”
Yuki Tsunoda, RB F1 Team, Scott Dixon
Photo by: Honda
One of the unique elements, according to Dixon, was Tsunoda’s interest in learning every small element of the tools available in the car straight away, particularly the roll bars, engine modes and deployment of the hybrid system.
David Salters, the president of Honda Racing Corporation, confirmed to Motorsport.com that it didn’t take long to give Tsunoda the chance to push the pace.
“It was quite impressive to see, like Turn 3, he was on full push,” Salters said. “When we started off, taking it easy, the car was in practice mode – powertrain – and then he came in, and there was a bit of a side discussion for new boots and race-quali power. And he quite enjoyed that, I think.”
