The ‘freedom’ allowing Yuki Tsunoda to indulge in previously restricted hobby

Sam Cooper 20 Aug 2023 4:45 PM

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda smiling as he walks down the grid.

Yuki Tsunoda has revealed that since moving out of his family home, he has been spending a lot more time gaming online with his friends.

A lot of teenagers will know the feeling of wanting to spend hours on end on the Xbox or PlayStation but those same teenagers will know how pesky parents can be in getting in the way.

And it seems Formula 1 drivers are no different with AlphaTauri man Tsunoda revealing just what he spends his free time doing.
Yuki Tsunioda puts in marathon Apex Legends stint

Tsunoda moved away from his home country of Japan in 2019 when he joined Jenzer Motorsport in F3 and as anyone who ever watched Drive to Survive will know, Tsunoda eventually ended up in Milton Keynes near Red Bull’s base.

But it was not to Tsunoda’s taste, he described it as the “most boring place in the world” and looked bemused when the traditional English meal of fish, chips and mushy peas was put in front of him.

Thankfully for his sanity, life got a little easier when he moved to Italy and Faenza to be closer to the AlphaTauri HQ. The move seemed to help life on track as well as off it with Tsunoda producing some of his best F1 results since departing the UK.

But as for what he spends his rare free time doing, it is perhaps not the natural assumption of a racing driver.

“Online gaming, [a] shooting game called Apex Legends,” he told Channel 4 when asked if he has any hobbies.

“For me, [I play] from 8:30am to like 6:30pm. So I just have some snacks between 12pm and 1pm with a friend back home in Japan.”

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Tsunoda is not the only current driver known to enjoy a bit of gaming with Max Verstappen regularly taking part in sim races while Lando Norris has a popular Twitch channel.

As for why Tsunoda is able to play such long hours, it is because he is now free from his parents’ watchful eyes.

“At the moment, there is no parents at home so that’s why I’m doing it,” Tsunoda explained. “When I was young and with my parents, they didn’t let me game that much so now I have freedom.”