Why Tsunoda feels ‘like a rookie’ ahead of his second Racing Bulls outing of the season Yuki Tsunoda explains what will leave him facing another steep learning curve on his second super-sub outing for Racing Bulls at Monza. When Yuki Tsunoda was told he would be driving for Racing Bulls at the Dutch Grand Prix, he was on holiday on a beach in Greece and had to rush to prepare for the outing at Zandvoort. He felt so unprepared that he approached the weekend like a rookie. By the time the Italian Grand Prix came around, Tsunoda had already been working in the simulator in case Isack Hadjar remained sidelined. Despite having a race weekend in the car under his belt and more time to prepare, he still feels like a rookie given the complexity of energy deployment at Monza. “It was actually yesterday,” Tsunoda said on Thursday when asked when he had learned the news. “I was in the sim just in case. I really didn't know until mid-afternoon, and I heard in the middle of the session. ‘OK, I’m going to drive, so I’ll keep doing the simulator work as I would in a race week.’” Zandvoort went about as well as could have been expected, given Tsunoda’s unfamiliarity with the car and the demands of a Sprint weekend. After finishing a solid P11, he received positive feedback from Team Principal Alan Permane. “[It was] positive for sure,” the Japanese racer confirmed. “And even after the debrief, I said, ‘Good luck this season, I enjoyed it,’ or something. Alan said, ‘We might need you again – we might need you again next week. So be prepared.’ “I could tell that I felt some more trust from him after that race. If I did really bad, and anything can