Yuki Tsunoda i🌜s conducting a test with the AlphaTauri team today at Imola as he prepares for a possible Form൲ula 1 graduation next year.

The Japanese Formula 2 racer will get behind the wheel of a 2018-specification Toro Rosso STR13 to complete 300km of running in order to qualify for a free practice superlicence which would enable him to contest an FP1 outing before the end of the season, something🃏 AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost has hinted at.

Tsunoda has enjoyed a strong rookie campaign and has impressed Red Bull by winning two races. The 20-year-old curr♌ently lies third in the championship standi🍎ngs heading into the F2 finale in Bahrain at the end of the month.

In♍ order to qua𝓡lify for an F1 superlicence, Tsunoda must finish inside the top four in the F2 championship. However, Christian Lundgaard, Robert Shwartzman and Nikita Mazepin all sit within seven points of him with four races still to run.

AlphaTauri h🌄as already confirmed that Tsunoda will run for the team in the Abu Dhabi rookie test that follows the final F1 race of 2020.

“It’s his first outing in a🌄 Formula 1 car,” said Tost, “It’s in ওImola, it’s not an easy track and I will instruct him on the best possible way to do [it].

"We will see if it's necessary. It depends where he ends up in the F2 drivers' championship. If he is in the first four, he gets a superlicence, if he is fifth and maybe he needs two FP1s, because they will be ♋a point as well♔.”

Providing Tsunoda secures a top-four finish in F2, he is likely to graduate to AlphaꦍTauri alongside Pierre Gasly, which would result in Daniil Kvyat losing his drive despite an impressive fourth-place finish at Imola.

Should Red Bull decide to demote Alex Alb꧟on, then it may wish to reinstall the Tha🎐i racer back into AlphaTauri’s line-up for 2021.

"It's better to have a queue ins𒁃tead of having nothing,♌" added Tost of Red Bull’s driver options. "I think the decision will be made soon, a decision from Red Bull, and then we will see.

"We are not in a hurry. If it's before the end꧒ of t💫he season, it's fine. It depends also I think where Yuki Tsunoda ends in the championship, because it is a very important factor.”

Tost said that Honda will not have an influence over Tsunoda’s future, insisting that a final call w🐟ill be based on “🅠just his performance.”

“It has nothing to do with any sponsors or anything like this,” Tost explained. “This was never the case at either Toro Rosso or Sc🅘uderia AlpꦺhaTauri.

“We must be convinced that the driver has the necessary ability and skills to drive successfully as a Formula 1 driver, because alt✤hough we are the so-called sister team, our pride expects good drivers.”