Yuki Tsunoda has spent enough time in Formula 1 to know how quickly the sport can change its mind about you. One week you’re surplus to requirements; the next you’re the only warm body who can step into a car at short notice and keep a campaign on the rails.
That’s the logic behind Red Bull putting him back in the cockpit at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this week, where Tsunoda completed a Testing of a Previous Car (TPC) run designed less for headlines and more for readiness. According to Tsunoda, the programme was properly chunky: two full race distances in the Barcelona heat, meaning at least 132 laps around a circuit F1 had only just raced on.
For a driver who has been pushed into a reserve role for 2026 after Red Bull chose Isack Hadjar to partner Max Verstappen, it’s a timely reminder that “reserve” doesn’t have to mean “parked”. Tsunoda remains embedded across both Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls this season, splitting his time between simulator work, staying physically sharp, and being on-site at race weekends in case the call comes.
“Still smiling after two race distances in the Barcelona heat,” Tsunoda posted on Instagram. “So good to be back behind the wheel, feels like I never left.”
There’s a bit of theatre in that line, but also a truth anyone in the paddock will recognise: you can do all the simulator mileage you like, and it still won’t replicate the physical workload, the timing, and the sheer repetition of driving an F1 car at speed. If Red Bull wants Tsunoda as a genuine insurance policy rather than a name on a list, it has to give him real driving days, not just gym sessions and debriefs.
Team boss Laurent Mekies didn’t dress it up as anything else in Barcelona. Tsunoda isn’t eligible to tick off the season’s rookie FP1 requirements, so those sessions can’t do double duty as “keep Yuki sharp” days. If Red Bull wants him race-ready, it needs separate opportunities like this.
“We are very happy to give to Yuki a chance to get back into the car,” Mekies said in Barcelona. “He has done a very good job for us. He’s part of the Red Bull family, and we took the very, very, very first opportunity to put him back in the car.
“Above all, it’s important for him that, as a reserve to others, he has a chance to stay warm, stay sharp in the car. He does a lot of work in the simulator, work to stay fit physically, [but] there is nothing like driving the car.”
That last sentence is the key. Red Bull’s reserve bench isn’t a ceremonial position this year; it’s a practical one. The calendar is unforgiving, and the team is splitting responsibilities across two outfits. Even the best simulator operators need real-world reference points — and drivers need the muscle memory that only comes from lap after lap, especially when they haven’t been racing.
Tsunoda’s 2026 has already included a very different kind of outing: back in April he drove the 2012 title-winning RB8 in Istanbul for a demo run tied to the announcement of the Turkish Grand Prix’s return. Nice for the photos, nice for the fans — but not the same as a proper circuit test in more recent machinery, pounding through race stints with the sort of consistency teams quietly obsess over.
It also underlines an awkward, very modern reality for drivers in Tsunoda’s position: you’re judged not just on what you did when you had a seat, but on whether you can still switch it on instantly when you don’t. This Barcelona run wasn’t about proving a point to Verstappen or Hadjar. It was about proving to Red Bull’s engineers that if they throw him into the deep end on a Friday night somewhere, he won’t spend half a weekend re-learning how to swim.
There’s also a longer thread here that Red Bull hasn’t exactly hidden. Mekies has previously talked about wanting Tsunoda to find a way back onto the grid in 2027 “in some form”. That’s not a promise — F1 doesn’t do those — but it is a signal that Tsunoda remains a valued part of the programme rather than a driver quietly being phased out.
Meanwhile, Red Bull is still balancing its other reserve options. Ayumu Iwasa handled FP1 duties ahead of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix to satisfy one of the team’s four mandatory rookie appearances this season, a reminder that Red Bull is running two parallel priorities: developing the next wave and keeping the immediate backup credible.
For Tsunoda, the job now is simple and brutal in equal measure. Stay present, stay useful, stay fast — and be ready for a moment that might never come, but could arrive at the worst possible time for everyone involved. Barcelona was Red Bull’s way of making sure that if it does, Tsunoda won’t be climbing into the car cold.
