Tsunoda recalls beach call in Greece that sent him back to Racing Bulls for Dutch GP

Yuki Tsunoda was sitting on a beach in Greece when a phone call from his manager abruptly ended his summer holiday and sent him back to the Formula 1 grid. The Japanese driver will race for Racing Bulls at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort after a chain of events triggered by Isack Hadjar’s wrist injury during the summer break.

With Hadjar ruled out, Red Bull turned to reserve driver Liam Lawson to fill the seat at its senior team. That decision, in turn, opened the door for Tsunoda to return to Racing Bulls — the squad he raced for from his F1 debut in 2021 until the spring of 2025, when he was briefly promoted to Red Bull.

“I was with my manager and also other friends in Greece, spending time together. I was on the beach,” Tsunoda told media in the Zandvoort paddock. “I just suddenly got a call, ‘OK, you have to go to the UK.’ I was in Greece for just 24 hours and you already want me to go to the UK? I said, ‘Why?’ — ‘Maybe you might race this week.’ OK, that’s where I’m going then!”

Tsunoda only received the call on Tuesday, giving him minimal preparation time before the race weekend. It will be his first F1 start since the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, though he has not been idle — completing four test and promotional car (TPC) sessions this year, including five race-distance runs, alongside regular simulator work with the Red Bull senior programme.

“It was very unexpected,” he said. “I’m actually quite calm and looking forward to tomorrow. It was a moment I was waiting for and I was dying to have this kind of moment. Watching from the screen every race, I was feeling like I really want to be back and drive it.”

Despite his fitness and mileage in previous Red Bull machinery, Tsunoda acknowledged that adapting quickly to the current Racing Bulls car will be his primary challenge. He drove the Racing Bulls simulator for the first time only this week, having spent the season focused on the senior Red Bull setup.

“All I just need to do is to get used to this car, which I feel is quite a lot different. And the procedures — how to start and everything. Having one free practice session is going to be tricky,” he said.

Tsunoda has served as Red Bull Racing’s official reserve driver since losing his race seat following the 2025 campaign. The Zandvoort weekend represents his first opportunity to convert that standby role into competitive action.