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Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane has revealed Yuki Tsunoda is set for an F1 return this year, taking part in free practice sessions.

Tsunoda was dropped by the Red Bull team at the end of the 2025 season after a challenging campaign in which he struggled to bring home points.

However, he has remained part of the Red Bull set-up and holds the position of test and reserve driver for the upcoming season.

The Japanese driver has already commenced commercial activities with the team in the USA, but a recent demo run ended dramatically when the car caught fire.

As the current F1 cars have gone through a significant change from the previous regulations, Permane insisted Tsunoda's experience will play a valuable role with car development.

“It’s great to have Yuki still in the family,” Permane told media including RacingNews365.

“He’s been part of this team for a long time. It’s good that he's still going to be in the paddock.

“His input will be very, very valuable, he will help us out a lot with simulator running.”

However, it seems Tsunoda will not be isolated to just test and simulator outings.

Permane has declared that the 25-year-old is set to jump behind the wheel during certain free practice sessions.

“He will do some Fridays - I’m not sure in both cars or just ours - but he will feature in FP1 running,” he stated.

“But a lot of his work will be simulator support for us.

“That’s really fantastic for us to have someone of his calibre helping us over a race weekend, driving our simulator.”

Also interesting:

Join RacingNews365’s Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on last week’s first test in Bahrain and this week’s second test at the same venue. The trio debate Max Verstappen’s criticism of the regulations and whether Formula 1 is facing an identity crisis.

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