Ted Kravitz fears Yuki Tsunoda has ‘severed’ his only hope to get another F1 race seat

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Ted Kravitz feels “sorry” for Yuki Tsunoda after he lost his drive for Red Bull, with Isack Hadjar promoted from Racing Bulls to replace the Japanese driver in the 2026 season.

Red Bull have chosen to change their No2 driver for the third time in the space of 12 months after Tsunoda had a miserable time in their main team. Tsunoda moved up from Racing Bulls this March to switch seats with Liam Lawson, who only replaced Sergio Perez last December.

Red Bull quickly grew frustrated with Lawson’s lack of progress adapting to their car over the first two rounds of 2025. So, Red Bull sent the Kiwi back to Racing Bulls and offered Tsunoda the remaining 22 rounds to try to help Max Verstappen secure the F1 drivers’ championship.

But Tsunoda only scored 30 points through his 22 Grands Prix and five F1 Sprint events with Red Bull. So, the Milton Keynes team decided before the season-finale in Abu Dhabi to hand Hadjar a promotion from Racing Bulls for 2026, which will mark his second term on the grid.

Does Isack Hadjar have the right mindset for his promotion to Red Bull in 2026?

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Ted Kravitz doubts Yuki Tsunoda will return to F1 after taking a Red Bull reserve driver role for 2026

Red Bull confirmed that Hadjar will replace Tsunoda in 2026 ahead of the 2025 season finale at Yas Marina. Tsunoda will now move into a reserve driver role for Red Bull and Racing Bulls in 2026, as Lawson also earned a new contract to partner Arvid Lindblad in their sister team.

READ MORE: Red Bull reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda’s life outside F1 from height to parents

But Kravitz fears that Tsunoda accepting a Red Bull reserve driver role for 2026 may now see that he never returns to a full-time F1 race seat. Kravitz feels it shows Tsunoda “severed” his ties with Honda, with the engine constructor leaving Red Bull to join Aston Martin in 2026.

Kravitz said on Sky Sports’ F1 podcast: “The shame? Can we have a word for Yuki Tsunoda? A good driver, a great character of Formula 1, a nice kid, and I don’t know whether he’ll ever get back into a Formula 1 race seat. I really hope he does, but I don’t really see how.

“He’s not even a reserve driver at Honda. He’s a reserve driver at Red Bull. So, he seems to have severed the Honda link, which might have been useful as he looks to get back in some way with Aston Martin. So, I don’t really see him coming back into the Red Bull fold.

“So, it’s a shame because it wasn’t his fault. He helped out Red Bull Racing by coming across from Toro Rosso, as I like to call them, rather than AlphaTauri from Racing Bulls.

“He helped them out. He’s come in, it wasn’t working with Liam. Then, he’s done everything they wanted. Yes, the crash in Imola didn’t help and really set the whole scene for the rest of his troubles.

“He even tried to push, or nerf, or encourage Lando [Norris] onto the grass in Abu Dhabi. Did everything he could, picked up a five-second penalty for himself. So, I do feel sorry for Yuki.”

Honda’s move to Aston Martin in 2026 was widely viewed as Yuki Tsunoda’s lifeline in F1

Tsunoda believes “there’s a chance” he could race in 2026, but the 25-year-old does not yet know what series he could join to enjoy some track action. The Kanagawa native has spent the past five years in F1, after debuting for Racing Bulls while still called AlphaTauri in 2021.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Where did you expect Yuki Tsunoda to finish when he joined Red Bull?

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But Tsunoda would need a lot to play in his favour to stand any chance of returning to the F1 grid next year. It is even said that Red Bull rejected a deal from Honda to keep Tsunoda in F1 in 2026, as Honda will continue to supply engines for Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) events.

Red Bull will produce their own engines for the first time from next year, as Christian Horner established Red Bull Powertrains in response to Honda announcing in 2020 that it would be leaving F1. But Honda later joined forces with Aston Martin due to the 2026 F1 regulations.

Honda’s move to Aston Martin was widely viewed as Tsunoda’s lifeline, as Honda has backed him since 2017 and helped facilitate his arrival in the Red Bull ecosystem in 2019. Tsunoda is one of the most prominent drivers to emerge from the Honda Formula Dream Project so far.

A seat could also become available at Aston Martin in 2027, as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are both currently set to be out of contract at the end of 2026. But Aston Martin have confirmed that Jak Crawford will act as their reserve driver throughout the 2026 F1 season.