Yuki Tsunoda enjoyed a surprise cameo in three races in 2026, joining Racing Bulls in place of Liam Lawson following Isack Hadjar’s injury. While it is still unknown if Tsunoda will make a fourth start this season, the Japanese rider has certainly made the most of his unexpected return.
Tsunoda He is Red Bull’s reserve driver this season, having lost his seat at the end of last year. After being promoted to red bull From the third round of the 2025 season, Tsunoda struggled to make a big impact and resigned himself to playing a supporting role in Max Verstappen’s championship fight.
Talking about the latest episode of the official F1 podcast Beyond the networkTsunoda explained how difficult 2025 was for him, after many years of relative success in racing bulls under its various forms, and exactly what he felt was his biggest mistake.
“I think there’s one thing about me, if I say [being] “It’s completely honest, I have a big enough ego not to change my driving style,” Tsunoda said. “I know what I’m doing in terms of driving. I believe in myself, that’s why I never try to change my driving style to that of other drivers, even if the driver is competitive and fast.
“Obviously Max, it is a different case, he is World Champion, he demonstrates many things and I still learn many things from his driving. [It was] Probably the first year since I started I thought about changing the riding style and tried to do something similar to Max.
“But from my perspective, if I just look at the data, I didn’t really see a big difference in terms of driving. What I think now is the biggest mistake from last year was trying to replicate the set-up that he’s doing.”
Tsunoda scored only seven times in the 21 Grands Prix he competed for Red Bull, in a car that Verstappen took to second place in the championship. The comparison between the two at the end of that season was stark, with Verstappen winning five of the last eight races, while Tsunoda in the same period recorded a P6, P7 and P10 finish.
That resulted in Tsunoda losing his seat, with Hadjar promoted from Racing Bulls to replace him.
“When they told me, I still remember, I didn’t feel a huge disappointment or a feeling of devastation. Obviously, I’m still disappointed and quite sad that I won’t be able to drive next year. But not like I expected, I don’t know why.”
“I fought very hard. I fought harder than ever in that year 2025, more than ever. And even if I look back now, I don’t have many regrets. I gave it my all and the result is something that I didn’t like, obviously, but honestly, I just gave it my all.”
Tsunoda believes the struggles he endured in 2025 have made him a better driver and he has impressed for Racing Bulls.
In a new generation of cars, which are very different to the ones he drove last year, Tsunoda has done well in the three races he has contested, especially at Zandvoort, where the Sprint format meant he only had one practice session to get used to all the changes.
“Going back to the Dutch story, jumping into a car I’ve never driven, Sprint qualifying format, the team is doing very well, you know, taking fifth position in the championship. [knowing] “You can’t make mistakes in the race, what you want is to score points,” he added.
“Somehow, I really thought, [feeling] Well. “I didn’t feel much pressure.”
Tsunoda finished 11th in Zandvoort, one place ahead of his teammate. But then he finished tenth at Monza to score a point for the team and help them in their fight. against alpine.
“The feeling I had crossing the line, finishing P10, is definitely a P10 a little more special than the last three years of my career. I felt a very similar feeling to the first time I got points in AlphaTauri. [in my] first year
“I felt very valuable, [more] than usual. I was very happy, the team is happy and the kind of moments you can celebrate with the team (that we had a good race weekend) is something I haven’t had for a long time. “It was a very nice moment.”
As for Tsunoda’s future, he is still trying to get a full-time driving position for next season. But it’s a difficult question, since there are very few seats left available.
“My main goal is F1. I’m trying to get back. That’s my goal and I don’t think about anything else. For me, it’s lucky to have had opportunities, so I try to maximize them and I hope to be able to return in 2027.”
To listen to this week’s episode of Beyond the networksimply press go in the audio player above or click here to listen through your favorite podcasting platform.
You can also watch a great selection of previous episodes, spanning every decade of F1, in our dedicated Beyond the network library.
You can also watch the podcast at F1 YouTube Channel.