Tsunoda began competitive karting in 2010 and progressed through Japanese domestic single-seater racing under the Honda Formula Dream Project. He won the F4 Japanese Championship in 2018 before moving to Europe for FIA Formula 3 in 2019, where he scored a win and finished ninth overall with Jenzer Motorsport. He also joined the Red Bull Junior Team that year. His progress was rapid enough that Honda and Red Bull committed him to a full Formula 2 campaign for 2020, partnering Jehan Daruvala at Carlin.
The 2020 Formula 2 season, delayed from its original Bahrain opener to a July restart in Austria due to the COVID-19 pandemic, proved a remarkable showcase for Tsunoda's raw speed. He immediately demonstrated pole-position pace, claiming his first F2 pole at the second Austrian round and leading under wet conditions before a radio problem disrupted his pit stop and dropped him to second. Engine trouble then ended his race in the same round, making his early pace feel painfully unrepaid.
Reliability and incident plagued his opening months. Collisions, mechanical failures, and an incident in Mugello where a penalty for contact dropped him from eighth to sixteenth underscored both his aggression and his inexperience. Yet his speed was never in question. At Silverstone, Tsunoda qualified ninth for the first round and executed a masterclass charge in the sprint race, passing Christian Lundgaard on the final lap for third. In the second Silverstone weekend sprint, he inherited the lead in the closing laps when two Prema drivers ahead of him collided, claiming his maiden Formula 2 win. He took a second sprint win in Belgium at Spa-Francorchamps when Nikita Mazepin received a post-race penalty for pushing him wide on the penultimate lap — an incident that brought Tsunoda's tenacity into sharp focus.
His third victory came in the second Bahrain round at the end of the season. Having taken pole, he fought a race-long battle with Mazepin in the feature race and won outright, then finished second in the sprint after a last-lap charge past Dan Ticktum. Those final two Bahrain rounds, held after a two-month break, demonstrated matured racecraft compared to his sometimes chaotic mid-season form.
Tsunoda finished third in the 2020 Formula 2 Championship with 200 points, claiming three wins, four pole positions, and seven podiums. He was the highest-placed rookie in the standings and, critically, scored more points than any other driver across the feature races — the longer, higher-points format regarded as the truest test of race craft. His nearest rivals for the title were Mick Schumacher and Callum Ilott, both of whom had more experience in the category.
The performance was sufficient to convince Red Bull and Honda to apply for a Formula One superlicence on his behalf. He passed the required criteria and was confirmed for AlphaTauri's 2021 lineup, becoming one of the fastest promotions from Formula 2 to Formula One in the modern superlicence era.
Tsunoda's 2020 Formula 2 campaign is notable within the context of Honda's return to Formula One success. Honda had supported his entire junior career under the Formula Dream Project, and his swift ascent — from Japanese domestic F4 winner to F2 podium contender in three seasons — validated the pathway they had constructed. His F1 debut the following year, where he scored points on his first start and reached a career-best fourth place in Abu Dhabi in 2021, confirmed that the one-year Formula 2 verdict was not premature. Tsunoda went on to drive for AlphaTauri and Racing Bulls across five seasons before joining Red Bull for the latter part of the 2025 season.