Yuki Tsunoda, Japanese F1 racer with short fuse, gets his big chance

TOKYO – Yuki Tsunoda stands just 1.59m, but the driver who has joined Formula One world champion Max Verstappen at Red Bull is a strong personality who has tried to tame his temper to get his big chance.

The 24-year-old will make his debut for Red Bull at his home Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka next weekend, after the team ruthlessly axed the underperforming Liam Lawson.

Tsunoda was promoted on March 27 from junior team Racing Bulls (RB) after outshining the New Zealander in the first two races of the season.

He swopped places with Lawson, 23, who returned to the team he was at last season.

The Japanese has had to wait patiently for this moment, having made his F1 season debut in 2021 as a baby-faced rookie renowned for having a short fuse.

“His progress last year, and more recently from the very start of 2025, has been nothing less than sensational,” RB team principal Laurent Mekies said after Tsunoda’s promotion to Red Bull was confirmed following days of speculation.

Tsunoda was 12th in the season opener at Melbourne and only finished out of the points last weekend at Shanghai because of RB’s flawed two-stop pit strategy.

In contrast, Lawson has endured a miserable start to the season. He was knocked out at the first stage of all three qualifying sessions and has yet to score a point.

The spotlight is now on Tsunoda, who started racing karts at the age of four in his native Kanagawa, outside Tokyo.

He has been backed by Honda since joining their junior drivers’ programme and making his debut in Japan’s F4 championship in 2016.

He had stints in F3 and Euroformula Open championships before joining British team Carlin in F2 in 2020.

He was fast-tracked into the elite after spending just one season in F2, where he impressed with three wins and seven podium finishes.

In 2021, barely out of his teens, he suited up for AlphaTauri, who would later become RB.

He was the first Japanese driver to compete in F1 since Kamui Kobayashi in 2014.

Because of his diminutive frame, team engineers developed a made-to-measure pedal kit to make him more comfortable in the cockpit of his AT02 car.

Tsunoda’s debut season was a roller coaster of glimpses of his potential against missed opportunities, mistakes and the odd spectacular shunt.

He had a reputation for his four-letter outbursts on the team radio, admitting that he found it hard sometimes to keep his head in the heat of racing.

“I’m quick to get riled up and start shouting over the radio,” he once said, admitting that when playing video games “I make a mistake or I lose and I start shouting my head off”.

In August, he raised eyebrows in the paddock when he admitted to spending some downtime with friends “drinking a lot in Japan”.

But, although he is yet to get on the podium in 89 grands prix, the likeable Tsunoda began learning how to keep his emotions in check and started delivering consistency on the track.

He scored the bulk of RB’s 46 points last season but Lawson was the one moved up to Red Bull because he was seen as having more potential in the longer term.

Tsunoda has said it is a balance between keeping his cool without losing his competitive instincts.

“I have to force myself to calm down, but the emotional control is coming more naturally,” he said in 2024.

“For sure I’m on the right path, but you can’t just shut up all the time.” AFP