Liam Lawson has been called up from Racing Bulls to replace Hadjar alongside Max Verstappen<\/a>, opening the door for Tsunoda to return to the team he raced for before his promotion to Red Bull early last year.<\/p>\nSpeaking on media day at Zandvoort, Tsunoda made no secret of his excitement after spending the opening half of the season watching from the sidelines in a reserve role.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the season started, I\u2019ve been dying to be in the car and compete with the drivers,\u201d Tsunoda said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this moment I will just enjoy, and obviously give my 100% performance. Hopefully that will bring some good results.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tsunoda lost his full-time place on the grid at the end of 2025 after Hadjar replaced him at Red Bull, leaving him to serve as reserve driver across both Red Bull teams this season.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old has remained involved through simulator work and testing in previous cars, but his chance to race again arrived with little warning while he was on holiday in Greece.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to be back, obviously. When I heard this news, I was in Greece having a nice mix of training and\u2026 at that moment, I was probably lying on the beach having a nice time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Tuesday I think I got the call that potentially I might be in the seat this weekend. When I heard, I was like half excited, half still doubtful because anything can happen, but I was super excited too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all confirmed that I\u2019m racing this weekend. I\u2019m super excited and physically I\u2019m feeling ready. I\u2019ve done a couple of TPCs. It will be my first time in this car but still, I\u2019m very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
His return comes with the added challenge of having never raced the current generation of F1 machinery, while the sprint format will leave him with only one practice session before competitive running begins.<\/p>\n
Tsunoda has completed four Testing of Previous Cars outings during his time away from racing, including the equivalent of five race distances, and believes that work has kept him prepared physically.<\/p>\n
However, adapting to the current Racing Bulls package remains the biggest unknown after he only sampled the team\u2019s simulator for the first time this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I just need to do is to get used to this car, which I guess I feel quite a lot different. And the procedures, I guess, how to start and everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think having one free practice is going to be tricky, but that\u2019s why I\u2019m not setting any expectations. For now, I just enjoy and have fun, which I wanted to have for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tsunoda\u2019s return is currently only confirmed for Zandvoort, with Red Bull yet to establish when Hadjar will be ready to race again.<\/p>\n
That leaves open the possibility of further appearances should the Frenchman require more time to recover, although Tsunoda said his immediate priority was making the most of the opportunity in front of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I understand, I will be in the seat for now \u2013 this weekend \u2013 and also I think it depends on Isack\u2019s recovery. I hope that recovery goes pretty fast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure about the next grand prix but my objective is to have fun. I think I\u2019ve been waiting for a long time. I was watching the screen for the last few months.\u201d<\/p>\n
The weekend could also provide Tsunoda with an important opportunity to remind teams of his capabilities as he looks towards securing a return to a full-time seat in 2027.<\/p>\n
Tsunoda said being able to demonstrate his ability on track was far more valuable than simply talking about what he could offer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a good opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no better time than this. It\u2019s always better to drive and show what I can do, rather than just talk. I know what I can do but it\u2019s always hard to show that or prove that without driving.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to Red Bull and Racing Bulls for allowing me to have that opportunity. I\u2019ll use the race to show something good about myself. Also, the most important thing is to enjoy it.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously I would love to have a seat next year, but those things are not in my control and I don\u2019t have to think about them for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I said, I\u2019ve been dying to have this moment and hit the track in the current car so I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dutch Grand Prix begins with FP1 at 12.30pm local time on Friday (8.30pm AEST).<\/p>\n
2026 F1 Dutch Grand Prix \u2013 Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yuki Tsunoda is excited to be back racing this weekend in Zandvoort. Image: XPB Images The Japanese driver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,60689,817,813,816,918,85,5077],"class_list":["post-862555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dutch-gp","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-red-bull","tag-sports","tag-yuki-tsunoda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\u2018Been](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/XPB_1429760_HiRes.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYuki Tsunoda is excited to be back racing this weekend in Zandvoort. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n