Red Bull rejected an offer from Honda that would have kept Yuki Tsunoda on the Formula 1 grid

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Yuki Tsunoda will be demoted to a reserve role at Red Bull for the 2026 Formula 1 season, and it has emerged that the Austrian constructor rejected a deal from Honda that would have seen him retain a seat on the grid next year.

After months of anticipation, Red Bull have finally broken their silence on what the future looks like for Yuki Tsunoda in Formula 1.

The 25-year-old will be taking a back seat next season, with Isack Hadjar stepping in to fill his seat at Red Bull and Arvid Lindblad making the move up from Formula 2 to race alongside Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls.

Honda was understood to be Tsunoda’s lifeline in keeping a seat on the grid next year, but due to the lack of partnership between the two parties next season, his luck had seemingly run out.

• READ MORE: Red Bull pay tribute to Yuki Tsunoda after confirming exit ahead of the 2026 F1 season

Red Bull rejected Honda’s deal to keep Yuki Tsunoda in a full-time seat within the stable for 2026

According to a report from Auto Motor und Sport, Honda had a ‘deal on the table’ with Red Bull that would have seen Tsunoda retain a seat within the stable of the Austrian constructor for the upcoming F1 season.

Despite Red Bull developing their own engines in line with the 2026 F1 regulations next year, all of their recent challengers are powered by Honda engines.

The deal involved the Japanese manufacturer selling their F1 power units to Red Bull at a discount, for them to be used in their Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme that is crucial for the development of younger drivers.

However, the caveat was that Honda’s flag-bearer in F1, Tsunoda, must hold an F1 seat at either Red Bull or Racing Bulls in 2026, which, after Tuesday’s confirmation of both teams’ line-ups for next year, was rejected in the end.

The report goes on to state that there may have been a second deal, in which Red Bull still received some of the ‘discounted’ power units, provided Tsunoda was kept on the books at Milton Keynes in a reserve role.

• READ MORE: Yuki Tsunoda’s engineer details how Arvid Lindblad left Red Bull blown away during his FP1 debut

Yuki Tsunoda may already have a route back to Formula 1 for 2027

Despite it looking like the Japanese driver will be out of full-time action in F1 for at least one year, Tsunoda can take solace from Alex Albon’s previous rise from Red Bull demotion to lead driver at Williams.

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu is an admirer of Tsunoda’s talents, and with Ferrari keen on potentially moving Oliver Bearman out of the American constructor and into a seat at Maranello, a door could open up for him at the Banbury-based F1 team.

Given Tsunoda’s strong ties to Honda, Aston Martin could also be a genuine option for him ahead of 2027.

Aston Martin will be fielding Honda engines in their Formula 1 challengers from 2026, meaning that the Japanese manufacturer could end up striking a deal with the Silverstone-based team instead.