Happy Birthday to Yuki!

The funny thing is that he doesn’t remember what was his first feeling in karting: «Honestly, I didn't remember what I said at the time, but my dad says, 'you told me this is amazing'.» This is completely understandable since that little boy was only 4 yrs old when he drove a go-kart for the very first time in Nakai. not far from Tokyo. That little boy made his road in karting, supported by his father as a mechanic and progressed up the ranks of Japanese karting from 2010 to 2016 (his best results are the East Japan Championship in 2013 and the 2nd place in All-Japan Kart Championship in 2015) before moving up to single seaters in National F4 in 2016. The turning point for him was in 2018 when he won the F4 Championship (he won seven times in taking the title by 14 points ) and entered the RedBull Junior Team and the Honda Formula Dream Project to drive in the new FIA F3 series. In 2019, driving for the Jenzer Team he claimed one victory in Monza, finishing the Championship 9th «That race in Monza was my first win in Formula 3 and played a large part in my promotion to Formula 2 for 2020.» In 2020 he battled for the title (Carlin Motorsport), scoring three wins and seven podiums finishing as the highest placed rookie, taking third, just one point off Callum Ilott in second. Yuki, now driving an Alpha Tauri – his the second year -  is the first Japanese driver to race in F1 since Kamui Kobayashi, who last competed in 2014 with Caterham and the future seems still to be bright for him, since also Ross Brawn, after his first races in F1  labelled him as one the best rookie the sport has had “for years” after his 1st 2021 race in Bahrain, finished in the 9th place. For the rest of his 1st season in F1 he struggled to match his team mate. The Jappo admitted that he believed his fitness was a limitation, that’s why Fun fact, at just 5ft 2in (1,59m), Tsunoda is the shortest driver on the grid and perhaps one of most pint-sized drivers in the history of the sport.

Photo: JAPANKART