Yuki Tsunoda is the new rising star of Helmut Marko’s Academy. Twenty-year-old from Japan, the driver is making his name in Formula 2 driving for Carlin.
Signed by the Red Bull Academy in late 2018 following a triumphal campaign in the Japanese Formula 4, Tsunoda was immediately sent to Europe by Helmut Marko. The Austrian thought that the FIA Formula 3 and the EuroFormula Open championships would have been decent benchmarks to test Yuki’s talent. And indeed he managed to stand the challenge on underperforming cars.

In 2020, halfway through the Formula 2 season, Tsunoda has build a massive gap in the standings from team-mate and RB Academy fellow Jeahn Daruvala. While the Japanese rookie sits in fact in fourth place with 82 points and a race win under his belt, the Indian driver owns a unsatisfying P15 with 18 championship points.

Furthermore his homeland is a passepartout for Honda, Red Bull’s engine supplier; and the energy drink company would surely aim to enter the nippon market.

https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/16739/f1-pirelli-decides-to-postpone-tests-on-2021-prototypes

Those reasons, combined with the clear talent he so far displayed, convinced Franz Tost to have the future Alpha Tauri’s driver in his sight: “First of all, Red Bull and Honda are supporting Tsunoda because he’s a fantastic driver. He has great talent, as he has show last year in Formula 3 and now in Formula 2”.

Yuki is indeed performing well in F2: “I remember his impressive drive under the rain in Austria earlier this year -Tost recalled-, as well as his maiden win at Silverstone”.

“He keeps improving his performance, and is getting more and more experienced. I’m expecting to see him in Alpha Tauri, sooner or later.”

We'll just be over here... 🥺

Watching this on a loop... 🥺

Until next race weekend... 🥺#F2 #RoadToF1 pic.twitter.com/6DJXtnGMZZ

— Formula 2 (@FIA_F2) August 18, 2020