Yuki Tsunoda has revealed he was relaxing on a beach in Greece when he got the call that he might be needed for this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix. The Japanese driver has been called up to race for Racing Bulls after Isack Hadjar was ruled out with an injury.
The move came after Red Bull decided to promote Liam Lawson to their main seat at Zandvoort, leaving a vacancy at the junior team. For Tsunoda, this marks his first race since last season's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and he admitted he didn't expect to return so soon.
"I was with my manager and also other friends in Greece. We were spending [time] together, I was on the beach. I don't want to make a different narrative that I was hanging out at the beach all the time!" Tsunoda said. "I was still training and everything. But at that moment I heard from my manager, I was at the beach, feeling relaxed, watching the nice, beautiful ocean."
"Suddenly I got a call, 'Okay, you have to go to the UK'. I was Greece just 24 hours, and you already want me to go to UK. I said, 'Why?' 'Oh, maybe you might have to race this week.'"
Since being dropped from a full-time drive with Red Bull at the end of 2025, Tsunoda has been serving as a development driver. Despite being sidelined, he insists he is in top shape thanks to regular training and TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) sessions.
"Physically and in terms of my mind, it's sharp enough because I was training almost every day and for a long time. Training, I have a lot of time to do it because I didn't have anything to do other than that. I've done four TPCs and I've done like five race distances," he explained. "So pretty sharp, and I had a good experience with laps in those TPCs. So all I need to do is to get used to this car, which I guess will feel quite a lot different, the procedures, how to start and everything."
Tsunoda acknowledged that having just one free practice session will be tricky, but he is not setting high expectations. "Having one free practice will be a bit tricky. But that's why I'm not setting any expectations for now. Just to enjoy and just to have fun, which I wanted to have for a long time," he concluded.
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