Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda has a new young driver

Japanese racer Yuki Tsunoda will make his Formula One debut with AlphaTauri in 2021 after Red Bull opted to promote the 20-year old to replace Daniil Kvyat. It has long been mooted that the Honda-backed driver would step up to partner Pierre Gasly at Red Bull's sister team, following an impressive rookie F2 season where he finished third.

He will be the first Japanese driver in Formula One since Kamui Kobayashi, who last competed in the sport in 2014 with Caterham. "Like most racing drivers, it has always been my goal to race in Formula One, so I am very happy with this news," said Tsunoda.

Tsunoda, who only arrived in Europe two years ago after racing exclusively in Japan, has made rapid progress through junior formulae after winning the Formula Four Japanese Championship in 2018. He finished ninth in his first Formula Three campaign the following year, taking one win and two further podiums, before making waves in Formula Two with seven podiums - including two victories.

"Watching him in Formula Two 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", said Franz Tost, AlphaTauri Team Principal.

"In addition, his integration with the Honda engineers has been seamless, which certainly helps. At the test in Abu Dhabi this week, Yuki proved to be a fast learner and that he is ready to make the step to Formula One."
Tsunoda earned his Friday super licence with a test in a 2018-spec Toro Rosso at Imola earlier in 2020, before completing a day of running in AlphaTauri's 2020 car in the end-of-season Abu Dhabi test.

Third place in Formula Two was more than enough to earn a racing super licence to compete in Formula One, paving the way for Red Bull to give him a seat at AlphaTauri. It means Kvyat will leave Formula One, at least in a racing capacity, having scored three podiums in his 110 starts.