THROWBACK: Yuki Tsunoda’s F3 win at Monza

Yuki Tsunoda has been a member of the Red Bull Junior Team for several years, dating back to 2019 and his rookie campaign in FIA Formula 3.

Racing with Jenzer Motorsport back then, Tsunoda earned multiple points finishes across the campaign, but arriving in Monza for the penultimate round of the campaign, he’d just achieved his best result of P2 in Race 2 around Spa-Francorchamps.

After Qualifying in 11th position, he finished third in Race 1, having started from sixth on the grid after being elevated to sixth following post-qualifying penalties for others. But the best was yet to come for the then-Jenzer driver, as he put together his finest F3 performance on Sunday.

With pre-race rain soaking the track, Race 2 was wet, and Tsunoda seized his chance with a stellar drive, once more going from P6.

He was in the action from lights out as he claimed fourth on the run to Turn 1, which became third on the exit of Turn 2, as he edged ahead of Richard Verschoor with superior traction on the outside line.

On the following lap, he pulled ahead of polesitter Fabio Scherer, who’d lost the lead on the opening tour to HWA RACELAB’s Jake Hughes, and Tsunoda now had his sights set on the new leader.

The duo traded sector times but by Lap 5, Tsunoda was in striking range, and they went side-by-side into Turn 1. Hughes was just about able to hold onto first with a squeeze into Turn 2, and it baulked his pursuer’s momentum.

The Red Bull Junior Team driver dropped back for the next few laps, instead having to defend his second position from a resurgent Scherer.

A fastest lap by Tsunoda on Lap 10 began to turn the tides though, and he started to hunt once more for the race lead. Another fastest tour going into Lap 15 put him right on Hughes’ gearbox, and with a great slipstream down the Monza straight, he claimed the lead with eight laps to go.

Their fight wasn’t over though, as Hughes swept back into the lead at Parabolica on the following lap though only temporarily, as the Japanese driver put his own marker in the sand by scything back down the inside at Turn 1 immediately.

That move set the tone for the remainder of the race, as he built up a comfortable lead in the closing laps to take his and the team’s first victory in FIA Formula 3.

It was his seventh consecutive points finish and an important win at that stage of his career. 2020 brought graduation to FIA Formula 2, a season which included three more victories en route to third in the Drivers’ Championship and the Anthoine Hubert Award.

That campaign earned him a Formula 1 drive with AlphaTauri, and he has gone from strength to strength since, finally graduating to the senior Red Bull team in 2025.