When the drivers assemble for the first race of the season in 2026, one face that won’t be on the grid is Yuki Tsunoda, with the Japanese driver having been replaced at Red Bull by Isack Hadjar.
While Tsunoda moves to the role of test and reserve driver for the Milton Keynes-based squad, boss Laurent Mekies has voiced his belief that the 25-year-old could potentially find another opportunity in the future.
Tsunoda would not be the first driver to make a return after losing their seat, with the following names having all bounced back in similar situations…
Alex Albon
Perhaps one of the best examples for Tsunoda would be courtesy of Alex Albon, a driver who also found himself being demoted to a test and reserve position at Red Bull.
After making his F1 debut for the then-named Toro Rosso sister outfit in 2019, the Thai driver was promoted to the main team midway through the season in a direct swap with Pierre Gasly.
While Albon did enough to keep his spot alongside Max Verstappen into 2020, Red Bull decided to make a change at the end of the campaign and brought in Sergio Perez (more on whom later) to replace him, with Albon remaining in the fold in the test and reserve role.
The now 29-year-old later admitted that his struggles in 2020 left him mentally “destroyed”, but this did not stop him from using his year on the sidelines to good effect, building his network and finding himself a seat on the grid at Williams in 2022.
It was a move that paid off for Albon, who appeared to flourish as he became something of a team leader at the Grove-based outfit, with the team since continuing their steps forward and working their way up to a ‘best of the rest’ P5 in 2025.
Alain Prost
While some in this list were still trying to make a name for themselves when they dropped off the grid, a slightly different example comes courtesy of Alain Prost, who was already a three-time World Champion when he joined Ferrari in 1990.
While his first campaign with the team saw him controversially miss out on a fourth title to rival Ayrton Senna, relations between Prost and the Scuderia soured in 1991 and the Frenchman was publicly critical of the outfit following their drop in competitiveness.
As a result, Prost was axed by Ferrari before the season was over – and, with no time left to find another suitable seat for 1992, he was forced to take a sabbatical.
It would not be the last that F1 had seen of the man known as ‘the Professor’, though, as he returned at the wheel of a Williams in 1993. The move was an inspired one; the FW15C proved to be a dominant force and took Prost to a historic fourth championship.
This would ultimately be the final act of the French driver’s time in Formula 1, bringing the curtain down on an illustrious career.
Nico Hulkenberg
In terms of making the most of every opportunity after losing a seat, Nico Hulkenberg is a glowing example.
At the end of 2019 – his ninth season in F1 – the experienced Hulkenberg found himself out of a job when he was dropped by Renault, who would instead bring in Esteban Ocon (another name to appear later) in 2020.
It transpired that it would not be long until the German appeared on the grid again, however. Amid a shortened season in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hulkenberg made two eye-catching substitute appearances for Racing Point when Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll each contracted the virus.
When the team became known as Aston Martin in 2021, the super-sub was kept on as a reserve driver – and while his services were not required during that year, he again stepped in for two races in 2022 in place of Sebastian Vettel, who had tested positive for COVID-19.
All of this was enough to keep Hulkenberg on the radar of the teams, and he was subsequently signed up by Haas to make his full-time comeback in 2023. The 38-year-old has since gone from strength to strength, with his 2025 switch to Kick Sauber – soon to be known as Audi – delivering a long-awaited maiden podium at Silverstone.
Mika Salo
Long before the era of ‘Hulkenback’, another driver to make the most of being a stand-in was Mika Salo.
After making his debut for Lotus at the end of the 1994 season, Salo went on to race for Tyrrell and Arrows in the years that followed before the latter opted to change their line-up for 1999, leaving the Finn without a seat.
When BAR’s Ricardo Zonta was sidelined with an injury, Salo stepped in across three races – and an even bigger call-up followed after Michael Schumacher broke his leg in a crash at the British Grand Prix, with Ferrari bringing Salo in to replace the German from the next round onwards in Austria.
Eddie Irvine was now heading the Scuderia’s charge as he battled McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen for the World Championship and, when Salo found himself in the lead of the German Grand Prix – in only his second outing for the team – the sub moved aside for Irvine. His P2 finish still marked his maiden podium in F1.
Another rostrum followed in front of the squad’s home crowd at Monza and, while Irvine just missed out on the Drivers’ crown, Salo’s contributions helped Ferrari to seal the Teams’ Championship. This also put the Finnish racer in the shop window and led to a full-time comeback in 2000 with Sauber.
Valtteri Bottas
Fast-forward to the modern era, and Salo’s fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas has also fashioned a return to the grid after previously finding himself without a seat.
Following a four-year stint with Williams, Bottas joined Mercedes in 2017 following the sudden retirement of Nico Rosberg and went on to become a 10-time race winner in his five seasons with the squad.
After being replaced by George Russell for 2022, the now 36-year-old raced for the Alfa Romeo/Kick Sauber outfit across the next three campaigns before losing his place at the future Audi outfit at the end of 2024.
This saw Bottas return to the Mercedes fold as a reserve driver, meaning that he remained a visible presence in the paddock whilst keeping an eye out for opportunities to return, having stated that he was “not done” with Formula 1 yet following his last race for Kick Sauber.
It was later confirmed in the summer of 2025 that Bottas will be back in 2026 as part of Cadillac’s line-up for their maiden campaign in F1, where he will form an experienced pairing with Sergio Perez. Speaking of…
Sergio Perez
The Cadillac line-up will feature not one but two comeback drivers, as Perez joins Bottas for the American outfit’s debut.
Perez enjoyed a long F1 career that started back in 2011 with Sauber, going on to drive for McLaren and Force India – and scoring his first-ever victory with the latter in 2020 – before replacing Alex Albon at Red Bull in 2021.
The collaboration was initially a successful one as Perez partnered with Max Verstappen, helping the outfit to clinch the Teams’ Championship in 2022 and 2023 as well as collecting a further five Grand Prix wins.
A good start to 2024 resulted in the Mexican being handed a contract extension through to the end of 2026 – but the rest of his season unravelled, leading to Perez and Red Bull parting ways at the close of the campaign.
While the 35-year-old opted to take a breather from the sport and spend time with his family in 2025, his desire to return to the grid remained and he will now embark on his 15th season in the sport with the Cadillac team in 2026.
Felipe Massa
Like Perez, Felipe Massa became a veteran of the sport across 15 campaigns – but it is perhaps easy to forget that his F1 career hit an early obstacle when he lost his seat following his rookie year.
Off the back of winning the Euro Formula 3000 Championship in 2001, Massa made the step up to Formula 1 with Sauber in 2002 and scored points on three occasions. It was ultimately decided that he would be replaced in 2003, however, by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, with the Brazilian instead taking up a test driver role for Ferrari.
Following a year on the sidelines, Massa bounced back by rejoining Sauber in 2004. His next season at the squad in 2005 saw him outscore new team mate Jacques Villeneuve, and the youngster impressed enough to earn a seat at Ferrari in 2006 alongside Michael Schumacher.
From there the driver from Sao Paulo experienced plenty of success in the years that followed, collecting a total of 11 wins and 15 pole positions with the Scuderia before moving to Williams in 2014.
While he had announced that he would retire at the end of 2016, Massa later stayed on for an additional year following Valtteri Bottas’ exit to Mercedes after the retirement of Nico Rosberg, bringing the Brazilian’s total number of Grands Prix up to 269.
Esteban Ocon
Several drivers in this list have found their opportunity to return to the grid following a year spent in a reserve role – and Esteban Ocon is another name to add to that group.
Having joined the Mercedes Junior Team in 2015, Ocon soon found his way to Formula 1 after replacing Ryo Haryanto at the Manor outfit midway through 2016, before going on to join Force India to begin his first full-time campaign in 2017.
The Frenchman’s promising ascent would soon come to a halt, however. After the team’s financial troubles in 2018 saw them purchased by a consortium of investors led by Lawrence Stroll, Ocon was replaced at the end of the season by Lance Stroll.
Finding himself without a seat for 2019, the now 29-year-old took on a reserve driver position at Mercedes, embedding himself within the championship-winning squad whilst keen to get back on the grid in 2020, having said at the time: “I think in one year, the changes are not massive. If you miss two years, it’s a big step.”
Ocon ultimately got his wish as, after just the one year away, he secured a race seat with Renault, going on to score his maiden F1 victory with the team – now known as Alpine – in 2021 as well as making three additional visits to the podium in the seasons that followed. The French racer has since joined Haas, for whom he’ll embark on a second campaign in 2026.
Romain Grosjean
Remember what Ocon said about the potential challenge of making a comeback following more than a year away? This may be something Romain Grosjean would have something to say about, having made his own return following a 24-month gap.
When Renault dropped Nelson Piquet Jr with seven rounds to spare in 2009, the outfit called up reserve Grosjean to replace him for the rest of the season. The Frenchman struggled to match new team mate Fernando Alonso during his debut appearance, finishing the race at Valencia down in 15th.
After ending his brief stint with no points, Grosjean was not retained by Renault for 2010 and switched focus to other categories of motorsport. This also saw him return to Formula 2 – then known as GP2 – where he won the 2011 championship.
It was also during this year that Grosjean participated in two FP1 outings for Renault, and his full-time comeback followed for the newly-rebranded Lotus squad in 2012. The driver from Geneva collected 10 podiums across his four seasons with the team, including a career-best P2 finish at the 2013 United States Grand Prix.
Grosjean then switched to Haas in 2016, where he remained until the end of 2020. And while his last F1 appearance saw him experience a shocking fiery crash in Bahrain, the Frenchman recently enjoyed an emotional one-off return at the wheel of his former team’s challenger during a 2025 Testing of Previous Car (TPC) event.
Kevin Magnussen
One of Grosjean’s team mates during his time in F1 was Kevin Magnussen, a man who made not one but two comebacks in his career.
A former member of the McLaren Young Driver Programme, Magnussen was handed his Formula 1 debut in 2014 as he stepped up at the Woking-based outfit to replace the ousted Sergio Perez. Things could barely have gone better in his maiden race, with a second place making him one of the few drivers to take a podium in their first Grand Prix.
While he scored points on 11 further occasions, it was not enough to keep Magnussen in the seat for 2015 and he was demoted to a test and reserve role. The Dane did not stay away for long, however, and returned to the grid with Renault in 2016.
Magnussen went on to race for Haas between 2017 and 2020, but was left without a seat for 2021 when the American outfit opted for the all-new line-up of Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher. The Danish driver’s attentions then switched to other categories – until a late call-up to rejoin the team came just weeks before the 2022 season following the exit of Mazepin.
A lack of preparation time did not prevent Magnussen from impressing on his return, scoring points with a P5 finish in his first race back while another highlight came later in the year when he clinched a surprise pole position in Sao Paulo. The 33-year-old’s second stint with Haas subsequently came to an end at the close of 2024, meaning that his focus has returned to competing in the likes of the World Endurance Championship.
