Yuki Tsunoda, F1 driver

Yuki Tsunoda remains in consideration for a Red Bull Formula 1 team promotion if he consistently delivers, according to RB CEO Peter Bayer.In June, RB announced Tsunoda would remain at the team for 2025 and in recent weeks he’s been overlooked for a Red Bull spot with Sergio Perez’s place under threat as he underperformed.With the Red Bull organisation planning to keep both Perez and Daniel ...

read on

Daniel Ricciardo reckons that his RB team-mate Yuki Tsunoda has the ability to succeed in Formula 1, and believes the Japanese driver simply needs to prove he can execute when winning opportunities come his way.Tsunoda has proven himself as RB's de facto team leader over 2024, his fourth season in F1, but has been overlooked by Red Bull's management as it considered Liam Lawson and Ricciardo as ...

read on

Yuki Tsunoda believes he is now ready to fight at the front of Formula 1, saying he's a "more complete driver now" in his fourth season with RB.Tsunoda has always shown flashes of speed, but in the past, his fiery temper has often let him down, with the Japanese admitting getting his emotions under control was key to his future; not only to achieve a better level of consistency but also to be ...

read on

Yuki Tsunoda will start the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix from the rear of the field after RB chose to give him an all-new engine for this weekend’s race at Spa.Motorsport.com understands that Tsunoda – who was on the limit of his allocation allowed in the rules for all engine parts except exhausts – has been given the fresh Honda power unit as part of the common practice of taking penalties ...

read on

The FIA has replaced part of the grass strip at the Hungaroring’s Turn 5 ahead of Formula 1’s 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix after it contributed to Yuki Tsunoda’s qualifying crash.The RB driver crashed hard exiting the long right-hander on his final lap in Q3 – smashing the left-hand side of his car against the barriers behind the corner’s runoff and leaving Tsunoda bruised.Read ...

read on

Fernando Alonso felt that the FIA made a "gross error" in the way it swiftly brought out the red flag for Yuki Tsunoda's qualifying crash at Formula 1's Hungarian Grand Prix.Tsunoda crashed at the exit of Turn 5 during the closing stages of Q3, with just two minutes and 23 seconds remaining in the session.With Tsunoda's medical light having been triggered automatically by the impact, which ...

read on

Yuki Tsunoda says it would be "weird" for Red Bull to pick reserve driver Liam Lawson ahead of him in case it moves to replace Sergio Perez in its flagship Formula 1 team.Despite having recently signed a two-year contract extension at Red Bull, Perez is under renewed pressure to step up his game after dramatically underperforming alongside Max Verstappen over the past two months.It is understood ...

read on

RB Formula 1 driver Yuki Tsunoda has been handed a 40,000 euro fine for using offensive remarks during Austrian Grand Prix qualifying.Towards the end of Q1 at the Red Bull Ring Tsunoda was overtaken in the pitlane by Sauber's Zhou Guanyu, and responded by saying “these guys are f***ing retarded” over his team radio.The remarks were brought to the attention of the FIA's race stewards, who have ...

read on

RB Formula 1 driver Yuki Tsunoda is being investigated over team radio comments he made in the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix qualifying which appeared to include an ableist slur.At the end of Q1 in Austria on Saturday Tsunoda appeared to say, "These guys are f***ing retards," after being overtaken in the pitlane by Zhou Guanyu, as Tsunoda queued in the fast lane and the Sauber driver was waved out by a ...

read on

Tsunoda was labelled a fast but slightly inconsistent hothead upon his F1 arrival in 2021 at the tender age of 20, going viral because of his expletive-laden radio messages.But with it being easier to calm a fast driver down than it is to make a consistently average driver faster, both the team and Tsunoda's Honda backers kept supporting him as he matured into a tidy, well-rounded racer.Aboard an ...

read on

With Sergio Perez signing a new deal at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen, Tsunoda saw his slim chances of being promoted to the main team vanish, and the Japanese driver was widely expected to remain at RB instead.The Anglo-Italian outfit has now confirmed it has taken up the option to keep the long-time Red Bull junior and Honda protege at the squad for the 2025 season, which will be his fifth ...

read on

On Tuesday, Red Bull announced it had re-signed Sergio Perez on a two-year deal to remain alongside Max Verstappen until the 2026 season.Red Bull's decision to stick to Perez is setting further pieces in motion on the driver market, with Ferrari's departing Carlos Sainz now facing a choice between Williams and Audi.But it also affects Red Bull's wider roster of drivers, including RB duo Tsunoda ...

read on

On a weekend where Red Bull has had to adjust its ride height set-ups considerably to cope with the RB20's ongoing dislike for kerbs, Perez's crash late in FP3 meant Max Verstappen went into qualifying without any flying lap preparation on the soft tyres.Although this didn't ultimately prevent the Dutchman blitzing to pole, Perez also failed to progress to Q2 – blaming having to switch between ...

read on

Tsunoda scored seventh in last weekend's Miami Grand Prix, cementing RB's sixth position in the constructors' table after team-mate Daniel Ricciardo scored fourth in Saturday's sprint.While Ricciardo had been struggling to get up to speed this year in the VCARB01, Tsunoda picked up the baton as the team's lead driver over the first five races of the season, grabbing six points in Australia and a ...

read on

The Faenza-based team enjoyed its most competitive outing of the year in Miami last weekend, with Tsunoda scoring twice thanks to an eighth-place finish in Saturday's sprint followed by a strong drive to seventh in Sunday's race.Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo had a strong Saturday as well, qualifying and finishing fourth, before a rather anonymous grand prix in which he crossed the finish line in ...

read on

Following a U-turn on its F1 future, Honda signed with Aston Martin to become the Silverstone team's engine partner for F1's all-new power unit regulations in 2026.That means that, as it stands, Honda will no longer be powering the cars driven by its long-time protege Tsunoda, who rose through the ranks of its Honda Dream project to land a seat with AlphaTauri, now RB.Speaking exclusively to ...

read on

RB's hopes of a points finish in Shanghai were dashed within a dramatic few moments in Sunday's race after Ricciardo was hit from behind by Lance Stroll behind the safety car, while Tsunoda was involved in a race-ending clash with Kevin Magnussen at the restart.Neither driver was able to finish the race, and RB team principal Laurent Mekies felt that both of the incidents against his drivers could ...

read on

The Japanese driver has qualified in the top 10 for the last three races, outpacing his more experienced team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.He secured a seventh-place finish in Australia, helped by the retirements of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton and a penalty for Fernando Alonso.Tsunoda then followed up with 10th on merit at his home race in Suzuka, making up for a poor initial start by performing ...

read on

Now contesting his fourth top-flight season, Tsunoda has gained a reputation for airing his emotions in public via punchy, sometimes expletive-filled team radio messages.He opened up about “getting heating moments in my brain” in response to a pitwall call to fall behind team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, which he initially refused, in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix last month.But the Japanese ...

read on

RB man Tsunoda broke through the apparent barrier between F1's top and bottom five teams by beating both Aston Martins in Melbourne qualifying. He also outqualified Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton by claiming eighth on the starting grid, just narrowly behind Mercedes' George Russell.The Japanese driver couldn't keep the faster Astons of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll behind in the race, but a ...

read on

Heading into this season, the expectation was that a strong campaign for Ricciardo would make him the favourite to replace out-of-contract Sergio Perez alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull in 2025.However, the Australian has been outqualified on all three occasions so far in 2024 by RB team-mate Tsunoda - who also pipped him in the one-lap head-to-head in three of the final five races of last ...

read on

Ricciardo was initially 12th in Q1 and thus safely through to Q2 before losing his lap time to a track limits offence, which dropped him down to 18th.However, even without the penalty he couldn't match the pace of Tsunoda, who progressed through the three sessions to qualify eighth.The Australian, outqualified by his team-mate in every event so far this year, admitted he was left "puzzled" at his ...

read on

With RB having been relaunched this year under new management, owner Red Bull had hoped the team would deliver progress on track to fight nearer the front of the field.But a difficult start to the campaign, with RB fighting in the second half of the pack, has left both Tsunoda and Ricciardo unable to finish in the top ten so far.And, with both having come into the year hoping to put themselves in ...

read on

Magnussen's own Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was ruined by incurring an initial 10-second penalty for contact with Alex Albon in the Williams.His focus then shifted to holding up others so team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, who hadn't stopped under an early safety car, could pull out a gap and claim 10th. Crucial to that strategy was overtaking the RB of Yuki Tsunoda on lap 17, which Magnussen did by leaving ...

read on

Tsunoda was asked to let Ricciardo past in the closing laps as the Australian was on fresh soft tyres, and potentially in a position to challenge the cars ahead.Tsunoda queried the call and was reluctant to comply, but he eventually did. He was then frustrated to see that Ricciardo didn’t make any further progress.After the flag he made his feelings clear by passing Ricciardo and swerving ...

read on