Red Bull F1 car catches fire in Yuki Tsunoda return

Yuki Tsunoda had to abruptly exit his Red Bull F1 car during a special demonstration event in San Francisco after a fire.

Tsunoda was taking part in the San Francisco showrun for Red Bull fans in a 2011 model, when his donuting exploits caused an exhaust problem, starting a fire at the rear of the car.

Social media videos showed the dramatic incident, and also appeared to show Tsunoda getting out of the car and walking to safety, while safety teams came to deal with the fire.

A Red Bull spokesperson told GPFans about the incident: "Following an extended demo run, Yuki performed routine burnouts in the 2011 RB7. The exhaust system overheated, igniting the rear of the car. The fire was quickly extinguished by on-site marshals, and no one was injured."

The Ford-backed showrun was designed to bring Red Bull Racing to the streets of America, allowing for more exposure of the F1 team ahead of the 2026 season, in which Tsunoda will only be a reserve driver having been replaced by Isack Hadjar at the end of last year.

Tsunoda car catches fire

The RB7 was a Red Bull machine from before the hybrid era, and this could be heard by the noise that the 2011 car was generating through the streets of San Francisco.

It was the car in which Sebastian Vettel claimed his second world championship title, winning 11 grands prix in that season.

For these showruns, the older car's livery is replaced with the new sponsors and decals, to maintain consistency within the Red Bull brand around the world.

This was not the first time that a Red Bull car has caught fire while Tsunoda has been completing donuts at a showrun. At a special event in Taiwan back in 2024, a very similar incident happened when he was driving a 2012-spec Red Bull F1 car.

Meanwhile, the very 2011 machinery that Tsunoda was driving in San Francisco also caught fire during a showrun in Russia all the way back in 2014, this time with former Red Bull junior driver Alex Lynn behind the wheel.

In all of these previous incidents, the fires were quickly dealt with, and there were no reports of any casualties.

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