Yuki Tsunoda

Early and personal life

Tsunoda was born on 11 May 2000, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa. He attended LCA International Elementary School and Nihon University Third High School before transferring to Wako High School in April 2017. Tsunoda started his studies at the Faculty of Sport Management of Nippon Sport Science University in April 2019 but later took a leave of absence and eventually withdrew to concentrate on his racing career.

Off track, Tsunoda is a passionate cook.

Junior racing career

Karting (2010–2016)

Tsunoda started his professional karting career in 2010, joining the JAF Junior Karting Championship, before moving to the regional class in 2013 and to the national class in 2014.

Formula 4 (2016–2018)

In 2016, Tsunoda graduated from Honda's Suzuka Circuit Racing School in the advanced formula class and became a member of the Honda Formula Dream Project. In the same year, he made his single-seater debut in the F4 Japanese Championship with the Sutekina Racing Team for a one-off event in Suzuka. He claimed his first podium with second in the first race and finished fourth in the second race. In 2017, Tsunoda started his first full season of single-seater racing in the F4 Japanese Championship while also contesting in the regional East series of the JAF F4 Japanese Championship. At Okayama, he would win his first race. Tsunoda won the title of the regional championship while finishing third in the national Formula 4 championship. He contested both championships with Honda. Tsunoda continued to race in Japanese F4 in 2018 with the Honda Formula Dream Project team. Tsunoda amassed seven wins and claimed the title during the final race at Motegi, beating rival Teppei Natori by fourteen points.

Formula Three (2019–2020)

With Honda tying up with Red Bull in Formula One, Tsunoda also joined the Red Bull junior team alongside the Honda programme. At the end of 2018, Tsunoda was announced to join Jenzer Motorsport in the newly announced FIA Formula 3 Championship. He scored tenth place and his first point during the first race in Barcelona, and ninth in Race 2. More points came in Paul Ricard where he came away seventh in Race 1, but struggled to ninth in Race 2 from second. Tsunoda failed to score points in Austria, but came back during Race 2 in Silverstone with seventh. He scored points in Budapest, with ninth and sixth place. In Spa-Francorchamps, he qualified in an astonishing third place. The Japanese racer dropped to sixth in Race 1, but from third in Race 2, scored a breakthrough second place. Monza was fruitful for Tsunoda, finishing fourth on the road but was promoted to the podium following a penalty for Marcus Armstrong. In Race 2, a storming start from sixth moved him to third at the start. After passing Fabio Scherer, he would go by Jake Hughes on lap 15 and claim his only F3 win of the year. He finished ninth in the championship with 67 points, including three podiums and a win, scoring all of the Jenzer team's points during the season. Tsunoda finished 11th at the non-championship Macau Grand Prix.

Tsunoda also competed for Motopark in the Euroformula Open Championship, following the cancellation of Formula European Masters. After a second-place finish in the first race at Paul Ricard and achieving third place in the Pau Grand Prix, Tsunoda claimed his maiden championship win in the second race at Hockenheim. In Spa-Francorchamps, Tsunoda was involved in a collision with teammate Liam Lawson during the second race, having scored second place in Race 1. He took a double podium during the Monza final round. Despite missing two rounds due to F3 commitments, Tsunoda placed fourth in the standings with 151 points, one win and five more podiums. Before the start of his 2020 season, Tsunoda partook in the 2020 Toyota Racing Series with M2 Competition alongside Liam Lawson. Tsunoda scored one win throughout the campaign, during the second race at the opening round in Highlands Motorsport Park. He claimed two further podium finishes later in the season, landing him fourth place in the championship.

FIA Formula 2 (2020)

In the beginning of 2020, Honda announced that Tsunoda would join Carlin to race in the FIA Formula 2 Championship alongside new Red Bull junior Jehan Daruvala. The season was scheduled start in Bahrain, but started in Austria in July due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He topped free practice on his debut, but only qualified 12th. His races were disappointing, colliding with Daruvala on the opening lap of the feature race saw him finish last, but recovered to 11th on Sunday. During the second Austrian round, Tsunoda stormed to his first pole. He would lead the race for much of the race under wet conditions, but encountered a radio problem that delayed his pit stop. He would pit two laps later than expected and drop to fourth place, but fought past the Virtuosi drivers for second place. More disappointment followed as an engine issue saw him drop out of the race on lap 10. Another disappointing round in Hungary rewarded him with zero points, with a 16th and 18th place.

Tsunoda qualified ninth in Silverstone, and made a masterclass charge, passing Christian Lundgaard on the last lap for third place. Another sprint race disappointment followed, as he was taken out by Callum Ilott on the opening lap. During the second Silverstone round, Tsunoda qualified tenth and moved up to sixth for the feature race. In the sprint race, he remained in third for most of the race, until lap 19 of 21, where the two Prema drivers ahead collided and promoted Tsunoda for his maiden win. Post-race, Tsunoda stated that "he had the potential for P1 even without late Prema crash". Tsunoda qualified sixth in Barcelona. Tsunoda would briefly lead on lap 30 after a safety car restart due to the frontrunners pitting again, but they caught up on fresher tyres, including compatriot Nobuharu Matsushita, and he dropped to fourth. He again finished fourth in the sprint race.

Tsunoda took his second pole of the year in Spa-Francorchamps. After a slow pit stop during the feature race, Tsunoda would fall behind Nikita Mazepin but fought back to him by lap 20. Mazepin would push Tsunoda wide on the penultimate lap while defending, which earned the Russian a five-second time penalty. Tsunoda would be promoted to the win having finished second on the road. In the sprint race, Tsunoda finished in ninth as a penalty for hitting Ilott at the start saw him drop out of the points due to a time penalty. He secured second in qualifying for Monza. A slow start in the feature race dropped him to fifth, Tsunoda made it up by crossing the line in fourth place. In the sprint race, mechanical woes saw him out early. In Mugello, he qualified 11th and finished eighth on the road in the feature race, but was penalised for colliding with Dan Ticktum, dropping to 16th. His disappointing weekend continued in the sprint race, as he damaged his front wing hitting the back of Felipe Drugovich on the fourth last lap, and was forced to pit which dropped him to 20th.

Formula One career

Tsunoda's first experience driving a Formula One car came in a November 2020 test session at Imola Circuit, driving the Toro Rosso STR13. The following month, he drove for AlphaTauri in the end-of-season rookie test at Yas Marina Circuit. He completed further test sessions in the STR14 at Imola Circuit and Misano World Circuit over the winter break.

AlphaTauri / Racing Bulls (2021–2025)

Tsunoda replaced Daniil Kvyat and partnered Pierre Gasly at the Honda-powered AlphaTauri team for the 2021 season, Tsunoda became the third Japanese driver to race for the Faenza-based team after Ukyo Katayama in 1997 and Shinji Nakano in 1998 when both previously raced for Minardi. His car number is 22, as he raced with number 11 during karting but the number was taken, hence he doubled it.

At the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Tsunoda qualified 13th, despite being second fastest in Q1. He finished in ninth place, having overtaken Lance Stroll on the last lap. After the race, Ross Brawn, Formula One's technical director, hailed Tsunoda as "F1's best rookie for years". He targeted an appearance in the third qualifying session (Q3) for the next race, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, but crashed in qualifying and started the race from the back. He made his way to ninth place before the race was red-flagged, but spun after the restart and finished 13th. He qualified 16th for the Spanish Grand Prix and later apologised after questioning whether he and teammate Gasly had "the same car". He went on to retire from the race with an electrical failure, his first F1 retirement.

He reached the Q3 for the first time at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but crashed in the session, causing a red flag. He finished the race seventh, his best result so far, despite being "mad" after the race due to losing two positions at the red flag restart. Tsunoda crashed again in qualifying at the French Grand Prix, was forced to start from the pit lane and finished 13th. He reached Q3 again at the Styrian Grand Prix, qualifying eighth, but received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas. He finished in tenth place despite radio miscommunications. He again reached Q3 at the Austrian Grand Prix and achieved his best qualifying result thus far with seventh. He opted for a two-stop strategy and received penalties for crossing the pit entry line, failing to score points with a 12th-place finish. He secured a point with tenth place at the British Grand Prix, having started 16th and benefited from a late pit stop from Sergio Pérez. He again qualified 16th at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but avoided the lap 1 collisions and gained from Sebastian Vettel's disqualification to be classified sixth in the race, improving his highest F1 result.

Tsunoda qualified 15th at the Dutch Grand Prix, but he would fail to finish the race as he retired in the pits with a power unit issue. At the following race, the Italian Grand Prix, he collided with Robert Kubica in sprint qualifying and then failed to start the race due to brake issues. In the next seven Grands Prix, Tsunoda advanced to Q3 all but once. During the Turkish Grand Prix, he held back Lewis Hamilton for numerous laps but a spin later cost him a chance of points and he finished 14th. He started tenth at the United States Grand Prix, passed teammate Gasly and finished ninth, his first points since the summer break. He qualified ninth for the Mexico City Grand Prix, but was required to start at the back due to taking additional power unit elements. He caused controversy for potentially impeding the Red Bull drivers, but was not penalised. In the race, he was eliminated on the opening lap in a collision with Esteban Ocon. A collision with Lance Stroll at the São Paulo Grand Prix resulted in a time penalty and a 15th-place finish. He qualified in the top ten at the Qatar and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, but failed to score points in either. He apologised for his role in a collision with Sebastian Vettel at the latter. He qualified eighth in the final race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix; notably, this was the first time all season that he outqualified teammate Gasly, who was eliminated in Q2. From this position, Tsunoda finished fourth and gained twelve points, his best ever result.

Red Bull (2025)

Tsunoda replaced Liam Lawson at Red Bull in a swap deal from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards, partnering defending four-time World Drivers' Champion Max Verstappen for the remainder of the 2025 season. Honda offered the team €10 million to have Tsunoda promoted in time for their home Grand Prix. He qualified fourteenth and finished twelfth on debut, as teammate Verstappen won the race. He scored his first points for Red Bull with ninth at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He qualified eighth in Saudi Arabia—nine-tenths of a second behind polesitter Verstappen—before suffering race-ending damage in a lap-one collision with Pierre Gasly. In Miami, he qualified last for the rain-affected sprint and started in the pit lane, recovering to sixth after penalties for others; in the main race, he qualified and finished tenth.

A heavy crash in qualifying at Variante Villeneuve in Emilia Romagna forced Tsunoda to start from the pit lane and run an outdated RB21 for the following five Grands Prix; he recovered to tenth. He proceeded to score no points over those five weekends, where he finished: seventeenth in Monaco, having qualified twelfth before a collision with Gasly; thirteenth in Spain, having qualified last; twelfth in Canada, having started last after a grid penalty for overtaking under a red flag; sixteenth in Austria, having been penalised for colliding with Franco Colapinto; and last of the finishers in Britain, again penalised for a collision with Oliver Bearman. He received an updated specification for the wet–dry Belgian Grand Prix, qualifying seventh before a belated team decision to switch to slick tyres dropped him to thirteenth. He qualified sixteenth and finished seventeenth in Hungary, where he reduced his performance deficit to Verstappen as Red Bull struggled. In the Netherlands, he qualified twelfth and finished ninth—his first points finish in eight Grands Prix—amidst throttle issues. He qualified sixth and finished sixth in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, his highest while with Red Bull, scoring eight points, and again impressed well in the United States, finishing seventh in both the sprint and the main race, having qualified eighteenth at the former and climbed up to seventh in the start after a Turn 1 pileup between Nico Hülkenberg, Oscar Piastri, Fernando Alonso, and Lando Norris. At the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Tsunoda qualified nineteenth and made his way up to finish in twelfth. During the Sprint qualifying session for the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix he qualified fifth, out-qualifying his teammate Max Verstappen, who qualified sixth, for the first time. Tsunoda maintained his position during the Sprint, finishing in fifth place, his highest ever finish with the team in any race format.

Red Bull / Racing Bulls reserve driver (2026)

In December 2025, Red Bull announced the promotion of Isack Hadjar for 2026 in place of Tsunoda, who would become the test and reserve driver for both Red Bull and Racing Bulls. At the 2026 Dutch, Italian and Spanish Grand Prix, Tsunoda deputised for Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls. Lawson, in turn, replaced Isack Hadjar at Red Bull after Hadjar sustained a broken wrist during the summer break.

Karting record

Racing record

Racing career summary

* Season still in progress.

Complete F4 Japanese Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete Euroformula Open Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

† Driver did not finish the race but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete Toyota Racing Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

‡ Half points were awarded as less than 75% of the scheduled race distance was completed.

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

* Season still in progress.