“I can’t imagine myself driving more than two hours”: F1 driver Yuki Tsunoda expresses his ‘scary’ IndyCar take as he reveals his stance on the sport

Yuki Tsunoda switched gears this week, taking the wheel of Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 93 Indy car ahead of F1's ongoing Las Vegas GP weekend. After the show run, the RB driver also highlighted his conundrum about potential participation in the Indy 500.

On Tuesday, Honda held a 'Hybrid Heroes' event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tsunoda, who is a Honda-backed driver, was the face of the event along with Red Bull's Max Verstappen, a three-time F1 champion.

Tsunoda was coached by six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon before his half-hour stint around the 1.3-mile track. After smoothly conducting the No.93 car, the Japanese driver expressed interest in driving in the Indy 500.

“If I have [an] opportunity and I feel it’s the right time, for sure I would love to. I like the US itself, so I don’t mind living here as well," he said (via Motorsport).

However, the thought of going in circles at over 200 mph sent shivers down his spine.

"But I feel like it's not the time because I can’t imagine I am driving at [Indianapolis Motor Speedway], more than a two-hour race and we do more than 200 mph or whatever every lap. For me, it’s scary. I can’t imagine myself driving more than two hours and being in that car. I don’t know. For now, I [am not] really aiming or thinking about IndyCar, but yeah, why not in the future?” he added.

This Indy 500 prospect might be close or far, depending on his Red Bull future in F1. Since his debut in 2021, he has only driven for the junior team. Promotion prospects remain uncertain with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez holding down their seats.

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Yuki Tsunoda promises to "keep destroying" his teammates to earn Red Bull promotion

Formula 1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas - Second Practice Session Classification - Source: Getty

In 2024, Yuki Tsunoda upped his game to consistently outperform RB teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who left the team mid-season. However, in the eyes of team boss Christian Horner, Tsunoda hadn't shown enough promise to replace the struggling Sergio Perez at Red Bull.

With Liam Lawson replacing Ricciardo at RB, Tsunoda faces another challenge in the race for a Red Bull promotion. Tsunoda was quoted as saying about the promotion prospect ahead of the Las Vegas GP (via Autosport):

"There was a time that I started getting impatient, probably just before the summer break."

Though he said wasn't happy with staying in the junior team, the 24-year-old made a bold statement about his plans to earn the Red Bull seat.

"But this thing, I can't control. It's just part of the life. I just have to keep doing what I'm doing. In fact, I'm the one who's racing still now. Whenever they keep sending their driver to me to beat me, I just keep destroying them. So that's what I'm going to do," he added.

Yuki Tsunoda currently sits P11 in the drivers' standings with 28 points to his name. He had a positive first day in Vegas, improving to P10 in FP2 after finishing in P19 in FP1. The Japanese driver expects to start the Las Vegas GP in the Top 10 if RB finds the right balance in the car setup between the short and the long runs.