Who is Yuki Tsunoda? The fiery F1 star promoted to Red Bull in 2025

Red Bull

Who is Yuki Tsunoda? The fiery F1 star promoted to Red Bull in 2025

Yuki Tsunoda is officially a Red Bull driver following an early season shake-up in 2025!

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Thursday 27 March 2025 15:10

Red Bull Formula 1 team have finally made the decision to promote one of their last remaining promising driver talents up from the junior outfit, Racing Bulls.

Yuki Tsunoda has driven for Red Bull's sister team since 2021 when he was called in to replace an underperforming Daniil Kvyat.

Since his maiden season in the pinnacle of motorsport, the junior outfit has undergone multiple facelifts, with Tsunoda remaining as the only fixed component as the team shifted from AlphaTauri to Visa Cash App Racing Bulls to RB and now, Racing Bulls.

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Christian Horner's team, Red Bull Racing, have struggled from the get-go in 2025, having replaced No 2 driver Sergio Perez following a disappointing end to 2024. Perez's performances often produced no championship points for the team, resulting in their lowest constructors' standings finish since 2019, despite main man Max Verstappen managing to secure a fourth consecutive drivers' championship.

As a result, the Mexican racer was dropped for 2025 with Red Bull opting to release him from his contract early - a pricey decision no doubt - promoting RB star Liam Lawson to the main team despite having only 11 grands prix under his belt.

However, Lawson has now been replaced by Tsunoda, a 24-year-old Japanese racing driver.

Early life and career

Tsunoda was born in Sagamihara, Japan, on May 11, 2000 and began his career in karting after his Dad took him to the local Nakai Inter Circuit in Kanagawa, with the four-year-old taking to the driving immediately.

The young star rose through the ranks rapidly after initial success in competitive karting, competing in single-seaters from 2016.

In 2018 Tsunoda won the Japanese Formula Four Championship which triggered a move to Europe to pursue a seat in both the FIA Formula Three Championship and the Euroformula Open Championship in 2019. The following year he stepped up to Formula Two and after racing to third place overall Tsunoda was handed his first seat in the pinnacle of motorsport with Red Bull's junior F1 team - AlphaTauri at the time.

He scored points on debut and ever since, has more than proved he was worthy of a promotion after beating every competitive team-mate sent his way.

At 5ft 3ins (1.59m) tall, Tsunoda is the shortest F1 driver on the 2025 grid.

Heading into his home race at Suzuka next weekend (April 4- April 6, 2025) the newly promoted Red Bull star could have his sights set on becoming the sport's first Japanese driver to win a world championship grand prix.

Why did Red Bull not promote Yuki Tsunoda earlier?

Widespread team woes plagued Red Bull's 2024 season, and with the team seemingly confident that Perez was the root of their problems, Lawson was billed as the answer to getting the team back on top in the constructors' standings.

Lawson impressed when replacing an injured Daniel Ricciardo at the junior team in 2023 and when called back to replace the Aussie permanently last season, his narrow margins to the results of the much more experienced Tsunoda perhaps indicated he had more to give if promoted over the Japanese star.

However, now, just two race weekends into the 2025 season, an immediate driver swap has been announced that sees Lawson demoted back down to the junior team and finally gives Tsunoda his shot at the main team from his home grand prix onwards.

Aside from Lawson's clear difficulty adapting to the infamously tricky RB21, it has also been noted that Tsunoda has had a strong start to his 2025 campaign and appeared revitalised after switching his management at the start of the year.

In the past, Tsunoda gained a reputation for his fiery attitude and often X-rated team radio messages, leading many critics to suggest last season that he would only clash with Verstappen if handed the promotion.

Is Tsunoda's F1 career future-proofed?

The 24-year-old will become Verstappen's sixth Red Bull team-mate after 10 seasons with the Milton Keynes-based squad, with many before Tsunoda falling victim to Red Bull's brutal approach to driver contracts, such as Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez, who were all dropped by Horner's outfit in the past.

Whether or not Tsunoda will prove the answer to Red Bull's performance woes remains to be seen and should he struggle with the machinery just as much as Lawson, he could be left looking for a new seat for 2026 and beyond as Honda's partnership with Red Bull also comes to an end.

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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Max Verstappen Christian Horner Sergio Perez Yuki Tsunoda Liam Lawson Racing Bulls