“We often think that drivers only grow precisely from a maturity standpoint – in the calmness and in the analysis – but I think in Yuki’s case, we have seen him making steps 360 degrees,” he said.
“We have seen him being more calm, being more mature, improving massively his technical feedback. Really quite an incredible step across the last 12 months, and this is converting to speed.
READ MORE: ‘It definitely feels different’ – Lawson opens up on how Racing Bulls car compares to Red Bull’s after Friday practice at Suzuka
“As a result, the natural speed when he gets into the car is higher straight away. When you combine all that, well, you turn a young driver into a team leader, and that’s really the role he was taking into the team, certainly from the start of the season.
“So I think it was a very impressive example of improvement at 360 degrees, and as we know, it never comes for free or with no effort. You can sense how much effort and concentration he’s been putting into that.”
.webp?ssl=1 "James Hinchcliffe picks his top five drivers of the 2026 Formula 1 season so far")
