Yuki
Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda was born on 11 May 2000 in Sagamihara and grew up in Tokyo. He took up karting as a child and from 2016 was backed by the Honda Formula Dream Project, the year he moved into single-seaters. In 2017 he won the East series of the Japanese Formula 4 and finished third in the national championship. In 2018 he took the Japanese Formula 4 title, winning seven races along the way.

In 2019 he joined Jenzer Motorsport for the new FIA Formula 3 Championship and became a member of the Red Bull junior programme. He finished ninth in the standings with 67 points, including a win at Monza, and scored every point the team collected that year. In 2020 he raced for Carlin in Formula 2 and finished third in the championship on 200 points, with three wins and four pole positions. He was the best-placed rookie that season.

Tsunoda made his Formula One debut in 2021 with AlphaTauri, using Honda power, replacing Daniil Kvyat and partnering Pierre Gasly. He finished ninth in his first race in Bahrain, sixth in Hungary and fourth in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, ending the year 14th in the championship with 32 points. He stayed on in 2022 and was 17th with twelve points. In 2023 he raced alongside Nyck de Vries and later Daniel Ricciardo, and from the Dutch Grand Prix his team-mate was Liam Lawson. He finished 14th with 17 points. The team was renamed RB for 2024, and Tsunoda ended that season 12th on 30 points. He finished tenth at the Japanese Grand Prix, becoming the first Japanese driver since 2012 to score points at his home race. At São Paulo he qualified third and came home seventh.

In 2025 he began the year with Racing Bulls alongside Isack Hadjar. From the Japanese Grand Prix he replaced Liam Lawson at Red Bull and partnered Max Verstappen. With Red Bull he finished ninth in Bahrain, sixth in Azerbaijan and fifth in the Qatar sprint, and he ended the season 17th overall. For 2026 Hadjar took the Red Bull seat, while Tsunoda became test and reserve driver for Red Bull and Racing Bulls. He stood in for Lawson at Racing Bulls at the Dutch, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix.

Source: Wikipedia, “Yuki Tsunoda”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.