LONDON • Yuki Tsunoda will race for Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri next season as Formula One's first Japanese driver since 2014, the team announced yesterday.
The 20-year-old, who replaces Daniil Kvyat, finished third in this year's Formula Two championship with seven podiums, including victory in two feature races and a sprint race.
Tsunoda will be the first driver born this millennium to race for an F1 team and will be the second Asian driver on next year's grid after British-born Thai Alexander Albon, whose spot with Red Bull remains up in the air.
The last Japanese driver on the grid was Kamui Kobayashi with the now-defunct Caterham team.
"Like most racing drivers, it has always been my goal to race in Formula One, so I'm very happy with this news," Tsunoda said in a statement. "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."
AlphaTauri principal Franz Tost, whose Italy-based team previously raced as Toro Rosso, said they had been keeping an eye on Tsunoda's career for a while now.
"Watching him in Formula Two this year, he has demonstrated the right mix of racing aggression and good technical understanding," he said. "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."
Tsunoda is a protege of Honda, who will be supplying the engines for AlphaTauri until next year.
His F2 team boss Trevor Carlin recently said he is the best Japanese prospect since Takuma Sato, now a double Indianapolis 500 winner.
Tsunoda will partner French driver Pierre Gasly, who claimed his first win in F1 as well as the team's first victory as AlphaTauri at the Italian Grand Prix this year.
The move leaves only one seat left to be confirmed for next year, with Red Bull yet to decide on whether to persist with Albon or to go with Sergio Perez, who impressed with Racing Point after finishing fourth overall this season but has been jettisoned for Sebastian Vettel from Ferrari.
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton's contract runs out in a few weeks but it will be a shock if he does not stay with Mercedes, the constructors' champions.
Kvyat, still only 26, has now been dropped three times by Red Bull in his career.
The Russian made his debut with Toro Rosso in 2014. He was promoted to Red Bull Racing in 2015 and demoted again in 2016.
Then in 2017, he was dropped by Toro Rosso before making a comeback last year.
Kvyat has already come to terms with his fate, saying: "I'll try to come back, because I feel like in the right ambience with the right people around me in the right car, which I like, I can be extremely competitive. And I still feel like I have a lot to give."
REUTERS
