Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda (Japanese: 角田 裕毅, Tsunoda Yūki, ; born 11 May 2000) is a Japanese racing driver currently competing in Formula One for the RB Formula One Team.

Tsunoda was born on May 11, 2000, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa.

Tsunoda started his professional karting career in 2010, joining the JAF Junior Karting Championship, before moving to the regional class in 2013 and to the national class in 2014.

Tsunoda finished 11th for the Macau Grand Prix.

Tsunoda also competed for Motopark in the Euroformula Open Championship, following the cancellation of Formula European Masters.

After a second-place finish in the first race at Paul Ricard and achieving third place in the Pau Grand Prix, Tsunoda claimed his maiden championship win in the second race at Hockenheim.

In Spa-Francorchamps, Tsunoda was involved in a collision with teammate Liam Lawson during the second race, having scored second place in Race 1.

He took a double podium during the Monza final round.

Despite missing two rounds due to F3 commitments, Tsunoda placed fourth in the standings with 151 points, one win and five more podiums.

He topped free practice on his debut, but only qualified 12th.

Supported by Honda since 2016 through the Honda Formula Dream Project, he was the 2018 Japanese F4 champion and in 2019 also received backing from Red Bull.

In 2016, Tsunoda graduated from Honda's Suzuka Circuit Racing School in the advanced formula class and became a member of the Honda Formula Dream Project.

In the same year he made his single-seater debut in the F4 Japanese Championship with the Sutekina Racing Team for a one-off event in Suzuka.

He claimed his first podium with 2nd in the first race and finished 4th in the second race.

He attended LCA International Elementary School and Nihon University Third High School before transferring to Wako High School in April 2017.

In 2017, Tsunoda started his first full season of single-seater racing in the F4 Japanese Championship while also contesting in the regional East series of the JAF F4 Japanese Championship.

At Okayama, he would win his first race.

Tsunoda won the title of the regional championship while finishing third in the national Formula 4 championship.

He contested both championships with Honda.

Tsunoda continued to race in Japanese F4 in 2018 with the Honda Formula Dream Project team.

Tsunoda amassed seven wins and claimed the title during the final race at Motegi, beating rival Teppei Natori by 14 points.

With Honda tying up with Red Bull in Formula One, Tsunoda also joined the Red Bull junior team alongside the Honda programme.

At the end of 2018, Tsunoda was announced to join Jenzer Motorsport in the newly announced FIA Formula 3 Championship.

He scored tenth place and his first point during the first race in Barcelona, and ninth in Race 2.

More points came in Paul Ricard where he came away seventh in Race 1, but struggled to ninth in Race 2 from second.

Tsunoda failed to score points in Austria, but came back during Race 2 in Silverstone with seventh.

He scored points in Budapest, with ninth and sixth place.

In Spa-Francorchamps, he qualified in an astonishing third place.

The Japanese racer dropped to sixth in Race 1, but from third in Race 2, scored a breakthrough second place.

Monza was fruitful for Tsunoda, finishing fourth on the road but was promoted to the podium following a penalty for Marcus Armstrong.

In Race 2, a storming start from sixth moved him to third at the start.

After passing Fabio Scherer, he would go by Jake Hughes on lap 15 and claim his only F3 win of the year.

He finished ninth in the championship with 67 points, including three podiums and a win, scoring all of the Jenzer team's points during the season.

Tsunoda started his studies at the Faculty of Sport Management of Nippon Sport Science University in April 2019 but later took a leave of absence and eventually withdrew to concentrate on his racing career.

He finished third in the 2020 Formula 2 Championship and made his Formula One debut in for AlphaTauri.

Before the start of his 2020 season, Tsunoda partook in the 2020 Toyota Racing Series with M2 Competition alongside Liam Lawson.

Tsunoda scored only one win throughout the campaign, during the second race at the opening round in Highlands Motorsport Park.

Two further third places later landed him fourth place in the championship.

In the beginning of 2020, Honda announced that Tsunoda will join Carlin to race in the FIA Formula 2 Championship alongside new Red Bull junior Jehan Daruvala.

The season was set to start in Bahrain, but started in Austria in July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.