Tsunoda-to-Aston whispers grow as Drugovich heads to Formula E — but the team’s keeping its 2026 cards close
Aston Martin isn’t biting. Asked about talk linking Yuki Tsunoda to a reserve role for 2026, the team says only that its full driving squad will be announced “in due course.” Translation: plenty is happening behind the scenes, and they’ll tell us when they’re ready.
The timing of the rumor isn’t an accident. Felipe Drugovich — the 2022 F2 champion and a long-time Aston reserve — is off to Andretti for the 2025/26 Formula E season, with expectations he’ll formally part ways with Aston Martin to focus on his racing program. That opens up a meaningful slot in a year when reserve drivers are more than just a seatbelt and a simulator: 2026 brings an all-new power unit formula, new aero, and for Aston Martin, a fresh works partnership with Honda. The person behind the wheel for testing, FP1s and big chunks of simulator correlation matters more than usual.
Enter Tsunoda, who checks a lot of boxes for Aston in 2026. He’s quick, he’s got five seasons of F1 mileage by then, and crucially, he’s long been aligned with Honda. With Red Bull building its own power units in collaboration with Ford from 2026, Tsunoda’s corporate backers and his current employer will be pulling in different directions. That inevitably fuels speculation.
The 25-year-old’s 2025 story has been a rollercoaster. Promoted into the senior Red Bull seat after two rounds, he went seven races without a point between Monaco and Hungary before finding some rhythm post-break — highlighted by sixth place in Baku. The flip side? He couldn’t quite pry fifth away from Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls car in Azerbaijan despite a big tyre offset. Solid but not slam-dunk stuff in a team that lives on slam dunks.
Inside the paddock, the expectation is that Isack Hadjar will be Max Verstappen’s teammate in 2026, which doesn’t leave much room at Red Bull. If that lands as forecast and Arvid Lindblad steps up to Racing Bulls, Tsunoda’s most obvious 2026 race seat fight is with Lawson for the second RB. There are even wilder permutations doing the rounds — Alex Dunne’s name has been floated in Red Bull conversations — but those are preliminary noises more than a clear plan. For the avoidance of doubt, talk of Tsunoda being swapped out before the end of this season has been pushed back by those in the know.
Against that backdrop, the Aston reserve role looks sensible. There’s familiarity with Honda’s culture and processes. There’s the prospect of meaningful mileage as the Silverstone team/hybrid Honda project beds in. And there’s a clear ladder: if Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll — both contracted through 2026, per the team — miss running, the reserve steps into a very high-profile cockpit.
Would Tsunoda trade a potential Racing Bulls race seat for a reserve gig? That’s the hinge. He said last year that Aston “maybe” looked like the logical long-term home with Honda, and the logic still stands. But racers race. If Red Bull’s junior team opens a door for him to stay on the grid, that’s a tough thing to pass up, even with the Honda-Aston alignment shining just down the road.
On Aston’s side, the shortlist won’t start and stop with Tsunoda. Drugovich’s exit and Stoffel Vandoorne’s multi-series commitments mean the team will want bench depth and flexibility. A 2026 reserve won’t just shake hands and turn laps; they’ll anchor simulator work during a generational regulation change and help land a brand-new power unit into a competitive window. The ideal candidate blends speed, feedback, and immediate Honda fluency. Tsunoda ticks those boxes as cleanly as anyone available.
For now, the message from Aston is deliberately bland, which in F1 usually means the story is alive. Alonso and Stroll are locked in. Honda is inbound. The rest will be “in due course.” If you’re reading between the lines, don’t read too far — but don’t look away either. This one makes too much sense not to keep simmering.
