Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda (Japanese: 角田 裕毅, ''Tsunoda Yūki'', ; born 11 May 2000) is a Japanese racing driver who is racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri in Formula One. Supported by Honda since 2016 through the , he was the 2018 Japanese F4 champion and in 2019 also received backing from Red Bull. He finished third in the 2020 Formula 2 Championship and made his Formula One debut in for AlphaTauri.

Early career

Karting

Born in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 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.

Japanese Formula 4

In 2016, Tsunoda graduated from Honda's in the advanced formula class and became a member of the . 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 2nd in the first race and finished 4th 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. 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 claimed the title amassing seven wins.

FIA Formula 3 and Euroformula Open

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 finished 9th in the championship with three podiums and a win, scoring all of the Jenzer team's points during the season.

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.

FIA Formula 2 Championship

In the beginning of 2020, Honda announced that Tsunoda will join Carlin to race in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. During the 2020 season he took three wins, four pole positions, seven podiums and finished 3rd in the championship with 200 points.

Formula One

In August 2020, Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda Formula One team principal Franz Tost announced that Tsunoda would drive for the team in the end-of-season rookie test at Abu Dhabi in December 2020. He had his first drive in a 2018-spec car at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. He again tested Formula One machinery at Imola in January 2021, but this time, he drove an AlphaTauri-liveried Toro Rosso STR14, Toro Rosso's 2019 car.

AlphaTauri (2021–)

2021

Tsunoda replaced Daniil Kvyat and partnered Pierre Gasly at the team for the 2021 season. His car number is 22.

At the season-opening , Tsunoda finished in ninth place. After the race, Ross Brawn, Formula One's technical director, hailed Tsunoda as "F1's best rookie for years". He crashed in qualifying for the and went on to finish the race in twelfth place after starting from the back. He qualified sixteenth for the 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. Tsunoda reached the third qualifying session (Q3) for the first time at the , but then brought out the red flags after crashing. He finished the race seventh. Tsunoda crashed again in qualifying at the and was forced to start from the pit lane. He reached Q3 again at the but received a grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas.

Tsunoda achieved his best Formula One result up to that point at the . He started the race sixteenth, improved to seventh place at the finish line, and was promoted to sixth after Sebastian Vettel's disqualification. He retired from the with a power unit issue. At the following race, the , 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, but was only able to convert one of those into a points finish, placing ninth at the . However, in the final race of the season, the , he qualified in eighth position; notably, this was the first time all season that he outqualified teammate Pierre Gasly, who was eliminated in Q2. From this position, he went on to finish fourth and gain 12 points, just ahead of Gasly in fifth, thereby improving his best Formula One result thus far. With those points, Tsunoda secured 14th place in the drivers' championship and ended the year on 32 points.

2022

Tsunoda and Gasly were retained by AlphaTauri for the season. Tsunoda qualified sixteenth and finished eighth at the season-opening . A fuel issue prevented him from setting a qualifying time at the ; he then failed to start the race after a power unit failure. At the Tsunoda finished seventh, ahead of teammate Gasly, having qualified sixteenth. He described the race as the best of his Formula One career. His first Q3 appearance of the season came at the and he scored points for the third time in six races at the , finishing tenth.

A streak of twelve races without scoring points followed. Tsunoda hit the wall in qualifying for the and finished the race seventeenth. He was running seventh at the until he was forced to pit for repairs after a DRS failure. He crashed whilst exiting the pits at the and collided with Gasly at the , for which Tsunoda later apologised. He qualified eighth for the but a first-lap collision with Esteban Ocon resulted in Tsunoda's eventual retirement. At the , Tsunoda retired with a differential issue. He had stopped at the side of the track and loosened his seatbelts before driving back to the pits, for which he was given his fifth reprimand of the season and therefore a grid penalty for the . At that event, he received another penalty for failing to slow for yellow flags in practice. He then crashed out of the having qualified tenth.

Tsunoda scored a point at the where he started nineteenth, gained five places on the first lap and finished tenth. He was running eleventh at the but was eliminated in a collision with Daniel Ricciardo. He ended the season seventeenth in the drivers' championship with 12 points to Gasly's 23.

2023

On 22 September 2022, AlphaTauri announced Tsunoda would stay with the team through the 2023 season. Nyck de Vries will replace Alpine-bound Gasly as Tsunoda's new teammate.

Racing record

Career summary

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 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 Macau Grand Prix results

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)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsunoda, Yuki
2000 births
Living people
Japanese racing drivers
People from Kanagawa Prefecture
Euroformula Open Championship drivers
FIA Formula 3 Championship drivers
Formula 4 drivers
FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers
AlphaTauri Formula One drivers
Japanese Formula One drivers
Motopark Academy drivers
Jenzer Motorsport drivers
M2 Competition drivers
Carlin racing drivers
Toyota Racing Series drivers
Hitech Grand Prix drivers