Red Bull F1 star Yuki Tsunoda admits he would 'ignore' his father after bad races

Credit for photo: Red Bull Content Pool — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Red Bull F1 star admits he would 'ignore' his father after bad races

Yuki Tsunoda has recently been axed by Red Bull

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 11 January 2026 17:54

Red Bull F1 star Yuki Tsunoda has said that he used to 'ignore' his dad, after admitting that he was quite hard on the F1 star.

Tsunoda raced in F1 full-time for the last five seasons, but has lost his place among the top 20 racing drivers on the planet for 2026, being axed by his Red Bull team after only scoring 30 points in 22 race weekends last year.

The Japanese racer was the team-mate of Max Verstappen, who managed to win eight grands prix and challenge for the title in the same car.

Article continues under video

Rather than demoting Tsunoda back down to the sister team Racing Bulls, he has dropped off the grid altogether, and will be Red Bull's reserve driver for 2026.

Now, the 25-year-old has revealed that his harshest critic is his father, who at one stage Tsunoda had to 'ignore' after he had not performed well in a race.

"The first two years especially, once I have a really bad race, straight away he had a call and was like 'how was it' and all this," Tsunoda told the Red Flags podcast.

"But at the same time I started to ignore him about that and he starts to not call me recently, but yeah we normally now just talk about just lifestyle, how's it going with my sister, and family you know, and recently he went away recently on a trip with my mum, so yeah it's good."

What next for Tsunoda?

Tsunoda recently said that his reserve driver role with Red Bull could well lead to further opportunities on the grid, suggesting that 'several scenarios are possible'.

Tsunoda may be being a little optimistic when he talks about opportunities next season, but there's every chance that the Japanese racer could be back in 2027.

A plethora of drivers up and down the grid are set to be out of contract at the end of this coming season, including Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll at Aston Martin.

With Aston Martin's Honda partnership beginning in 2026, it's likely that the Japanese car manufacturers would like to see Tsunoda in one of the Aston Martin seats at some point, and he would make for a fine replacement for either Stroll or Alonso if they decide not to sign another contract.

Tsunoda may also find opportunities opening up for him at Alpine alongside former team-mate Pierre Gasly, with Franco Colapinto being given the seat for next year, but being in need of some good performances early on to avoid the axe.

F1 HEADLINES: FIA meeting confirmed as Wolff could block Horner return

F1 Red Bull Yuki Tsunoda