Tsunoda’s escape hatch? Aston Martin-Honda link looms as Drugovich heads to Formula E
Yuki Tsunoda’s F1 future has felt like a moving target all year. Now there’s a plausible landing spot taking shape.
With Felipe Drugovich set to return to full-time racing in Formula E with Andretti for 2025/26, Aston Martin’s reserve roster is likely to shift at season’s end — and that’s reopened the door to a long-mooted Tsunoda tie-up ahead of Honda’s 2026 works arrival at Silverstone.
It’s a neat bit of timing. Tsunoda’s position at Red Bull beyond 2025 looks fragile despite an upswing in form over the last few rounds. The Japanese driver was parachuted into the senior team after two races this season and, while there have been flashes — including a best-yet P6 in Baku last weekend — the body of work remains patchy. He’s scored in five of 15 starts alongside Max Verstappen, and a mid-season points drought from Monaco to Hungary continues to hang over his campaign.
The Azerbaijan result offered relief but not release. Even on much fresher tyres and with DRS in the closing laps, Tsunoda could not find a way past Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls. In a Red Bull environment where every run is weighed and measured, that kind of detail still matters.
The bigger picture is shifting under his feet. Red Bull’s long relationship with Honda ends this year, with Red Bull Powertrains-Ford shouldering the programme from 2026. Honda, meanwhile, goes all-in with Aston Martin. Tsunoda, a Honda-backed driver every step of the way, has been openly linked to that project since the day it was announced — and he didn’t exactly pour cold water on it when asked in Monaco last year, conceding Aston “maybe” could be his long-term destination.
Drugovich’s move gives that story new oxygen. The 2022 F2 champion has been an Aston reserve since 2023, but a full-time Formula E return will inevitably limit his availability. Stoffel Vandoorne has balanced FE, WEC and reserve duties before, so Aston could cover the bases. But an Aston-Honda future arriving in 2026, with no Japanese driver currently in the team’s orbit, makes Tsunoda the most logical plug-and-play option on the market. Simulator heavy lifting in 2025, integration with the organisation, and a front-row seat for the first year of the Aston-Honda power unit? It writes itself.
None of this happens in a vacuum, of course. Red Bull’s 2026 chessboard looks busy. Isack Hadjar is widely expected to be promoted to partner Verstappen, with highly-rated Arvid Lindblad earmarked for Racing Bulls. That scenario would leave Tsunoda and Lawson scrapping over a single seat — unless, as Ralf Schumacher floated this week, Red Bull rips up the script and rolls with an all-new Racing Bulls duo of Lindblad and McLaren junior Alex Dunne. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has held initial conversations with Dunne’s camp, and while that’s a long way from a contract, the interest is real enough to keep the mid-grid nervy.
Tsunoda’s best answer remains on the stopwatch over the remainder of 2025. Deliver regular points, out-punch the Racing Bulls on Sundays, and make himself too useful to discard. But even if the numbers don’t tilt his way by Abu Dhabi, a reserve lifeline at Aston Martin for 2026 would be a savvy reset rather than a retreat. It’s not just seat-fitting and media days; it’s hours in the sim shaping a new PU, Friday run plans, correlation work, and — crucially — a chance to show the people who’ll run Honda’s next F1 chapter what he brings when the cameras aren’t rolling.
Aston’s race seats look stable heading into 2026, so “reserve” may be the realistic entry point. That’s fine. In a season where Red Bull’s driver pipeline has felt like a conveyor belt, Tsunoda needs leverage and continuity. Aston-Honda offers both.
All that’s left is to make the next nine races count. If Baku was the step, he now needs a stride. The lifeline is there; whether it becomes a launchpad is still up to him.
