Yuki Tsunoda Insists His Height Won’t Be A ‘Big Advantage’ In F1

Yuki Tsunoda will partner Pierre Gasly at Scuderia AlphaTauri in his debut season in Formula One.

Yuki Tsunoda comments on height advantage - Formula1news.co.uk

Japanese F1 rookie Yuki Tsunoda has insisted that his short frame and lower-than-average weight won’t give him a “big advantage” this year.

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Tsunoda, who stands at just 157cm and weighs 58kg, explained that his lower weight won’t give him much of an advantage because the FIA has restrictions on where the team can place the ballast to get his car’s weight up to the minimum threshold.

“We had a lot of work, we put quite a lot of efforts to make the perfect seat, so for me, it isn’t much of a big advantage,” Tsunoda said.

“I don’t see it as a big [advantage] in Formula 1 because FIA decided where you have to have the weight distribution, and you can’t choose the place you want to put it, so it meant for weight distribution there’s a tiny bit of an advantage but not much.

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“And for aerodynamics, for me I don’t see much [of a] big difference because in Formula 1 especially now, they’re made for [big drivers],” the Japanese driver added.

For comparison, his team-mate, Pierre Gasly, is 177cm tall and weighs around 70kg.

Scuderia AlphaTauri looked strong in pre-season testing, and both Tsunoda and Gasly will be hoping to have a strong campaign this year to give Honda a good send-off in its final season as an F1 engine supplier.

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