Yuki Tsunoda says he expected Red Bull's RB21 Formula 1 car to be more of a handful on the simulator, after he crammed in two days' worth of running at Milton Keynes last week ahead of his debut with the team at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Tsunoda has been moved across from Racing Bulls to sister squad Red Bull ahead of his home race at Suzuka this weekend, after the squad lost faith in Liam Lawson following his dire start to the season.
The speed of that change meant Tsunoda had to cancel some promotional appearances in Japan so he could fly back to the UK and get some running in on the Red Bull simulator back at its base.
With his work there having left him with a clear direction with which to attack the Japanese GP weekend, he said his fears about the RB21's handling quirks based on Lawson's struggles have so far proved to be unfounded.
Speaking during a Red Bull promotional event in Tokyo on Wednesday, Tsunoda explained that, while aware simulator performance does not totally carry over to the real world, there were some positive signs from the running he did.
This comes after a similar experience at the end of last year when a strong run in the RB20 on Red Bull's simulator was followed by an encouraging day of testing in the car in the post-season Abu Dhabi test.
Talking about how much confidence he was carrying after last week's simulator run, Tsunoda said: "The difference is last year's car I drove on the real track, but this time it was the simulator, and the simulator is always quite easy to handle the car more comfortably.
"You don't really necessarily need confidence, right? It's just kind of virtual. It's a bit of a difference there.
"But I was expecting a lot more trickiness, because of how Liam struggled. I'm sure it's still going to be very challenging, it's a lot different a car to the Racings Bulls. I just need to take it easy, just feel the car, but still definitely it will be challenging."
Asked by The Race about how much work he had got through and where it left him ahead of the weekend, Tsunoda said: "Just about two days.
"Because it was Japan [the next race], I had a lot of promotions planned anyway between China and Japan, so I had to cancel a couple of things.
"[With the] preparation we’ve done, we’ve maximised it at least. If you ask me if it's enough, I don't know. I can't really say confidently yes.
"But at least I know that it was a very, very productive two days. We tried a lot of set-ups and we found a direction we want to go in, to start at least.
"For FP1, I’m really excited [to see] how the car behaves."
Tsunoda said he thinks that the key to getting the best performance out of the RB21 is for him to be content with its handling, rather than fighting hard to overcome any strange characteristics.
"I know that if I feel 100% comfortable with the car, understand the car, I think the result will come automatically," he said.
"I just can't wait to get on the track as soon possible and just feel the car from FP1.
"I'm sure it won't be easy, it's very time-limited, but I just have to do as much as possible to give the feedback and make it work. For now, I'm feeling pretty good confidence."
