During a street show in San Francisco, a Red Bull RB7 was involved in an incident after catching fire in the middle of the exhibition, driver Yuki Tsunoda was unharmed and the event concluded following the intervention of marshals and fire extinguishers.
In San Francisco, during a promotional presentation organized by Red Bull, Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda experienced an unexpected moment when the Red Bull RB7 he was driving caught fire in the middle of the exhibition in front of the crowd gathered on the streets, forcing the activity to stop and the demonstration to be suspended.
The incident unfolded while Tsunoda was performing show maneuvers with spins and accelerations in an urban setting, generating smoke from the rear of the single-seater before flames intensified around the engine area. According to reports from the event, the driver quickly noticed the situation, stopped the vehicle, and exited on his own, which was key to avoiding injuries.
The sequence was captured in images that circulated on social media and on the original article’s website, where it could be seen how marshals intervened with fire extinguishers to control the flames, allowing the exhibition to be brought to an end without further consequences for the driver or attendees.
This type of incident at promotional events is not common in Formula 1, given that the cars are fundamentally designed to compete on circuits and not for the demands of continuous maneuvers in urban spaces, and it highlights the limits of thermal and structural tolerance when used under conditions not предусмотрed by the category’s technical regulations.
Tsunoda, linked to the Red Bull program, has been involved in exhibition events with both older and modern single-seaters in the past; on other occasions, similar situations were recorded when “donut” maneuvers raised the temperature of rear components and compromised sensitive car systems.
In the case of San Francisco, the swift intervention by Tsunoda and the safety teams was decisive in preventing the incident from escalating, allowing the driver to greet the crowd and leave the venue unharmed, and ensuring that the vehicle, although affected by the fire, did not pose a greater risk to those present.
Although technical details about the exact origin of the fire in the RB7 were not disclosed by Red Bull or the organizers, the scene raises questions about thermal management of systems when a single-seater performs extreme maneuvers outside standard circuit parameters, an aspect that teams and manufacturers usually prioritize in controlled testing.
These types of exhibitions, designed to bring Formula 1 closer to fans in urban settings, must balance spectacle with operational safety, ensuring that the cars can respond to public demands without compromising the integrity of components or drivers.
Attention will now shift to the upcoming preseason dates and the start of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship, where reliability and the technical response of the single-seaters will be evaluated under real race conditions, in contrast to the demands of an urban exhibition like the one Tsunoda experienced in San Francisco.