is a Japanese racing driver who serves as a reserve driver in Formula One for Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls. Tsunoda competed in Formula One full-time from to , and served as an understudy in .
Born in Sagamihara and raised in Tokyo, Tsunoda began competitive kart racing aged nine. Supported by Honda since 2016 through the , Tsunoda graduated to junior formulae the same year. He won his first full championship at the JAF Japan F4 East Series in 2017, winning the F4 Japanese Championship the next season. In , he progressed to FIA Formula 3 with Jenzer and became a member of the Red Bull Junior Team, before finishing third in his rookie season of FIA Formula 2 in with Carlin.
Tsunoda debuted in Formula One for AlphaTauri in , using a Honda powertrain alongside Pierre Gasly; he finished a career-best fourth at the that year. Tsunoda retained his seat at AlphaTauri in and , partnering Nyck de Vries and Daniel Ricciardo in the latter. He remained at the team for the season as they re-branded to Racing Bulls, before his promotion to senior team Red Bull for the onwards in . Replaced by Isack Hadjar for , Tsunoda became the reserve driver for both teams and returned at the for Racing Bulls.
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.
Tsunoda cooks food as a hobby.
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 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.
In Sochi, Tsunoda claimed his third pole ahead of teammate Daruvala. He settled for second place after being overtaken by Mick Schumacher, although he would win a battle over Ilott for runners-up position on the last lap. In the sprint race, Tsunoda finished in sixth. Tsunoda sat third in the standings heading into the two-month break before the final two rounds, 44 points behind leader Schumacher. In Bahrain, Tsunoda spun out on his flying lap, which left him down in last. He made an incredible charge on the alternate strategy, charging to sixth. In the sprint race, Tsunoda suffered a puncture on lap 1 cause by contact with Marcus Armstrong which ruined his race, ending in 15th. He took pole for the second Bahrain round. Tsunoda had another feature race battle with Mazepin, but the Japanese driver would win out and take another victory. In the sprint race, a last lap charge passing Ticktum would seal second place. Overall, Tsunoda took three wins, four pole positions, seven podiums and finished third in the championship with 200 points. He was the best-placed rookie and scored more points than any other driver across the feature races.
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)
2021
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 and Shinji Nakano in 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 , 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 , 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 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 , 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 , was forced to start from the pit lane and finished 13th. He reached Q3 again at the , 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 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 , having started 16th and benefited from a late pit stop from Sergio Pérez. He again qualified 16th at the , 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.