Yuki Tsunoda 2026: Racing Bulls Return and Results
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Yuki Tsunoda's 2026 season, measured: from Red Bull reserve to three races at Racing Bulls, and a point at Monza
Yuki Tsunoda lost his Red Bull seat at the end of 2025 and began 2026 as the team's reserve. When Isack Hadjar broke his wrist, he was called back to drive for Racing Bulls at Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid, and scored a point. Every race, measured, and what Baku decides.
Yuki Tsunoda started 2026 without a race seat. In late August he was called back from holiday to drive for Racing Bulls, and in his second race back he started fifteenth at Monza and finished tenth.
It is the only point he has scored this season, and it came from a place he did not expect to be. Red Bull dropped him to reserve driver at the end of 2025. When Isack Hadjar fractured his wrist in a boxing training session during the summer break, Liam Lawson moved up from Racing Bulls to Red Bull, and Tsunoda took Lawson's seat for the Dutch, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix. Whether he keeps it for Baku on 26 September depends on Hadjar's wrist.
Every message Tsunoda has exchanged with his engineers on air, including his Red Bull seasons, is on Yuki Tsunoda's team radio page, with the audio and a transcript coloured by who is speaking.
His three races of 2026
Round
Grand Prix
Started
Finished
Points
12
Dutch
12th
11th
0
13
Italian
15th
10th
1
14
Spanish (Madrid)
15th
14th
0
Grand Prix results, driving for Racing Bulls. Starting positions are the grid after penalties.
He also raced the Dutch sprint, starting twelfth and finishing thirteenth, without scoring.
The season in numbers
3 Grands Prix, all as a stand-in for Racing Bulls.
1 point, for tenth at Monza.
Finished all three, with an average finishing position of 11.7.
Gained five places at Monza, from fifteenth to tenth, his best race of the three.
Eleventh at Zandvoort, one place from a point, in his first race since December.
Against Lindblad
His team mate for the three races was Arvid Lindblad, the rookie who took one of the Racing Bulls seats in 2026. Lindblad started ahead in all three and finished ahead twice: eighth to Tsunoda's tenth at Monza, and ninth to his fourteenth in Madrid. Tsunoda was ahead at Zandvoort, eleventh to twelfth. For a driver who had not raced for eight months, stepping into a car he had never raced against someone with eleven races' experience of it, the Monza result was the one that mattered. Lindblad's full season is measured in Arvid Lindblad's 2026, and the team's in Racing Bulls' 2026.
How he got here
Tsunoda began 2025 at Racing Bulls and was promoted to Red Bull after two rounds, alongside Max Verstappen, in place of Lawson. It did not work. He scored 30 points in 22 races for Red Bull, 33 in the season, and finished seventeenth in the championship. After the Qatar Grand Prix, Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko told him he would lose the seat, and Hadjar was promoted in his place. "Obviously I'm disappointed," Tsunoda said at the time, and admitted he was angry about it too.
As reserve, he was on call for both Red Bull teams in 2026, which is exactly how Hadjar's injury brought him back. The chain of moves, Hadjar out, Lawson up, Tsunoda in, is told from Hadjar's side in Isack Hadjar's 2026 and from Lawson's in Liam Lawson's 2026.
What Baku decides
Red Bull has said Hadjar will return only when he is fully fit. Team principal Laurent Mekies said Hadjar would be assessed on the simulator before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and that if he is not fully recovered the team will keep its temporary line-up for a fourth race. If Hadjar returns, Lawson goes back to Racing Bulls and Tsunoda goes back to the reserve role. If he does not, Tsunoda races in Baku, where he finished seventh in 2021, his first season.
Results, grid positions and points come from Formula 1's official timing data and match the published standings after the Spanish Grand Prix.
His 2025 figures and the reserve decision are as reported by ESPN and Motorsport.com. The Baku decision was still pending when this was published on 19 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is Yuki Tsunoda racing in F1 in 2026?
He started 2026 as Red Bull's reserve driver, then raced for Racing Bulls at the Dutch, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix while Isack Hadjar recovered from a wrist injury.
Will Yuki Tsunoda race in Baku?
Only if Isack Hadjar is not fit. Red Bull said it would decide after assessing Hadjar before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 26 September.
How many points has Yuki Tsunoda scored in 2026?
One, for tenth at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Why did Red Bull drop Yuki Tsunoda?
He scored 30 points in 22 races for Red Bull in 2025, far behind Max Verstappen, and the team promoted Isack Hadjar for 2026.
Sources
Results, grid positions and points: Formula 1 timing data via FastF1, matching the published standings after the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix
When Red Bull decides who drives in Baku, the entry list and the FIA documents will show it before most reports do.
The Formula Dream app collects every FIA document of the weekend as it is published, including the entry list, and plays live driver radio as it is broadcast, transcript beside the audio. There is also a live timing Dashboard, currently in beta.
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