Yuki Tsunoda has been officially confirmed to join AlphaTauri for the 2021 F1 season as he steps up after a sound rookie F2 season.
Having only traveled to Europe in 2019 to take part in FIA F3 alongside Euroformula Open, Tusnoda did not readily become a household name. He finished ninth in the former and sixth in latter, albeit with Jenzer Motorsport, who are not known to be a powerhouse.
He was likely to stick in F3 in 2020 but was moved to F2 by Red Bull and Honda, which surprised him as well. He partners fellow junior Jehan Daruvala at Carlin and was on-song already, as results were readily available from the get go in COVID-19 affected year.
He started to soak in wins and podiums to eventually end up third – the leading rookie – in the 2020 F2 standings, with a firm chance to move to F1. He had his first test at Imola and was already confirmed to run in Abu Dhabi, while a move was speculated for months.
However, Red Bull and Honda waited until the end of the 2020 F1 season to eventually confirm Tsunoda to join AlphaTauri in place of Daniil Kvyat, alongside Gasly. The extent of the deal is not known but the team generally has multiple years noted already.
“Like most racing drivers, it has always been my goal to race in Formula 1, so I am very happy with this news,” said Tsunoda, as he becomes the first Japanese driver in F1 since Kamui Kobayashi. “I want to thank Scuderia AlphaTauri, Red Bull and Dr. Marko for giving me this opportunity, and of course everyone from Honda, for all their support so far in my career, giving me great opportunities to race in Europe.
“I must also thank the teams that I have raced with to get to this point, particularly Carlin, with whom I have learned so much this year. I realise that I will be carrying the hopes of a lot of Japanese F1 fans next year and I will be doing my best for them too.”
At the same time, AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost, added: “Red Bull has been following Yuki Tsunoda ‘s career for a while now and I am sure he will be a great asset to our team. Watching him in Formula 2 this year, he has demonstrated the right mix of racing aggression and good technical understanding.
“During the test in Imola in November when he drove our 2018 car, his lap times were very consistent over a race simulation, he progressed throughout the day and gave our engineers useful feedback. In addition, his integration with the Honda engineers has been seamless, which certainly helps. At the test in Abu Dhabi this week, he proved to be a fast learner and that he is ready to make the step to Formula One.”
Also, Takahiro Hachigo, President, Representative Director and CEO of Honda Motor Co., Ltd, commented: “On behalf of everyone at Honda I wish to congratulate Yuki Tsunoda on making the step up to Formula 1. It is a dream come true for him and a justification of all the effort Honda puts into its young driver programme.
“We are proud of what we have achieved together so far and look forward to following him on this next stage to be the fastest driver in the world. We know it will not be easy competing at the pinnacle of motorsport, but we believe in his abilities. Our message to him is simple, “Push, push Yuki!”
https://twitter.com/AlphaTauriF1/status/1339118170498621442?s=20
Following the announcement of Tsunoda, both Honda and AlphaTauri acknowledged the work done by Kvyat in the past two F1 season. The Russian did not get the farewell in ABu Dhabi, though, as he now hopes for a 2022 return.
“As Yuki will drive for us next year, we say goodbye to Daniil Kvyat, I want to thank Daniil very much for his input to the team, especially this year, he helped us a lot with his experience to set up and improve the performance of the car,” said Tost.
https://twitter.com/HondaRacingF1/status/1339137989251837953?s=20
UPDATE 2: Following his confirmation, Tsunoda confirmed his race number as 22 for his maiden F1 season, taking it away from Jenson Button, who last used it in 2017 and as per the 3-year cycle, was available to be in use from 2021 onward.
Carb number2️⃣2️⃣ pic.twitter.com/aohnftDrkZ
— Yuki Tsunoda (@yukitsunoda07) December 17, 2020
Here’s possible on Alexander Albon and Sergio Perez