Yuki Tsunoda stepped through the gates to the paddock on Thursday at Suzuka Circuit, signed autographs for some adoring fans and marched toward the AlphaTauri hospitality tent with a boom microphone hanging overhead and several cameras and reporters following his every move.
It was a lot of fanfare for the arrival of a driver on a backmarker team who is stuck in 17th place in the drivers’ standings, but such is the passion of Japanese racing fans and their desire to see one of their own succeed at the top level.
Three years into his Formula One career, Tsunoda’s homecoming to a track he knows all too well comes as his long-term future at the pinnacle of motorsport remains uncertain.