F1 Driver Yuki Tsunoda Says He Thought He’d Miss Vegas Race Over Customs Issue

Visa Cash RB has already made one driver change in 2024, swapping fan favorite Daniel Ricciardo for stellar young driver Liam Lawson, but it seems like the team nearly had to make an unexpected change, at least according to driver Yuki Tsunoda, who said he thought he was nearly going to miss the race over a customs issue.

According to Motorsport.com, Tsunoda arrived in Sin City for a promotional event with RB but ran into some serious issues at the airport.

He said that customs officials pulled him aside and interviewed him for quite some time before ultimately allowing him into the US (which, by the way, he as in the US as recently as last month for the United States Grand Prix).

However, Tsunoda said that there were moments during the ordeal when he wasn't 100% sure he'd be able to make it to the race.

 "Luckily they let me in after a couple of discussions, a lot of discussions, actually," Tsunoda said. "I nearly got sent back home. Everything is all good now but yeah, luckily I'm here."

The Japanese-born driver speaks English as a second language — and does so pretty well — but imagine trying to do it in a high-stress situation like this. 

I only know English and it would probably sound like I'd be speaking some kind of Star Trek-ish Klingon-y language if customs officials grilled me so hard I was afraid I'd miss my F1 race.

He said that he tried to find someone else who could tell officials what was going on but wasn't able to.

Yuki Tsunoda will be part of this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix with Visa Cash App RB following a hiccup at customs. (Photo by Simon Galloway/LAT Images)

"There was my physio that I travel with," he said. "Obviously when you go through customs, you go individually, right?" Tsunoda explained.

"And suddenly he [the official] just put me in the room and when I had a conversation I was like: can I bring the person that I'm going to travel with? Maybe he can help a little bit to explain a bit more about myself and the situation in Formula 1? But they didn't allow me to bring them or even call anyone. I wanted to call the team as well, or maybe F1 so they can help me. But in that room, you can't do anything."

Tsunoda said he didn't do anything differently from the other times he entered the country this season, which makes this situation odd.

He has had a solid season for RB and he would have certainly been missed had he been unable to compete. Tsunoda is currently P11 in the Drivers' standings while teammate Lawson is in P20. However, Lawson has appeared in just three races this season, and in those three races, both drivers have scored 4 points a piece.

RB will be looking to snag some more points during the final three races of the season as they're just two points behind Haas in P7 and five behind Alpine in P5.