Road to Formula 1

He was born on 11 May 2000 in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture. He started karting at four at the Nakai circuit in the same prefecture, and in 2013 he won the JAF regional championship in the FS-125 class. From 2016 he was backed by Honda’s young driver programme. He finished third in Japanese Formula 4 in 2017 and won the championship in 2018.

In 2019 he joined the Red Bull junior programme and moved to Europe: he spent the season in Formula 3 with Jenzer Motorsport and that same year won a Euroformula Open race at Hockenheim. In 2020, in Formula 2 with Carlin, he won three races — at Silverstone, Spa and Bahrain — finished the championship third and was named the best rookie of the season.

AlphaTauri and RB

He made his World Championship debut for AlphaTauri at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 28 March 2021, finishing ninth from 13th on the grid to score points in his very first race. On 6 June 2021 in Baku he started and finished seventh, and on 1 August 2021 he was sixth at the Hungarian Grand Prix. His best result of that first season — and of all four years with the Faenza team — was fourth at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 12 December 2021.

In 2022 his best race was the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on 24 April, with seventh place, and in 2023 the United States Grand Prix on 22 October, with eighth. His team-mates changed over these seasons: Pierre Gasly in 2021–2022, then Nyck de Vries, Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson, who took turns in the seat during 2023.

In 2024 the team raced as RB. He finished seventh twice — at the Australian Grand Prix on 24 March and the Miami Grand Prix on 5 May — and at the São Paulo Grand Prix on 3 November 2024 he started third after a wet qualifying session and finished seventh. In both 2023 and 2024 he scored more points over the season than all his team-mates put together: de Vries, Ricciardo and Lawson in 2023, Ricciardo and Lawson in 2024.

Red Bull

He began the 2025 season at Racing Bulls, as the Faenza team was now called. On 27 March 2025, after two rounds, Red Bull announced a swap: Liam Lawson returned to Racing Bulls, and Tsunoda took his place alongside Max Verstappen. His first race for Red Bull was his home Japanese Grand Prix on 6 April 2025 — 12th after starting 14th. His first points for the team came at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 13 April 2025 with ninth place.

His best races for Red Bull were the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 21 September 2025, where he started sixth and finished sixth, and the United States Grand Prix on 19 October 2025, where he was seventh. On 2 December 2025 Red Bull announced its 2026 line-ups: Isack Hadjar got the seat alongside Verstappen, the rookie Arvid Lindblad joined Lawson at Racing Bulls, and Tsunoda became test and reserve driver for both teams.

2026 season

He began the 2026 season without a race seat, as reserve driver for Red Bull and Racing Bulls, and the first 11 rounds went ahead without him on the grid. On 19 August 2026 Red Bull said that Hadjar had injured his wrist during the summer break and would miss the Dutch Grand Prix: Lawson stepped up into his seat at Red Bull, and Tsunoda got the vacant Racing Bulls car alongside Lindblad.

He returned to the grid on 23 August 2026 at Zandvoort, finishing 11th after starting 12th. On 2 September 2026 his stand-in role was extended to Monza, and at the Italian Grand Prix on 6 September 2026 he finished 10th to score his first point of the season. On 13 September 2026 he raced in the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madrid circuit, finishing 14th. The 2026 championship runs to new technical regulations with new power units and active aerodynamics; there are 11 teams on the grid — Cadillac has joined, and Sauber has become the Audi works team.