But will they just be a fleeting memory now that
Honda’s leaving F1 again…
Hello Sports, Err Race Fans, as we’re finally
entering the Home stretch over this never ending relay with our latest three
Japanese Formula 1 Drivers limbering up for Thar respective High Jumps! With Kamui
Kobayashi taking the Gold medal, followed by Kazuki Nakajima the Silver and
Yuji Tsunoda claiming Bronze…
Kazuki Nakajima
Birthplace: Okazaki,
Japan
DOB:
1/11/85, Age 36
Formula 1
Teams:
Williams (2007-2009)
First
Race: 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last
Race: 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Sports Cars
Teams:
Toyota
First Race: 2012 24
Hours of Le Mans
Three Times 24 Hours
of Le Mans Winner(2018-2020)
2018-19 FIA World
Endurance Championship Champion
Formula 1 Diehards will recognize his last name,
since Kazuki is indeed the son of former Formula 1 Driver Satoru Nakajima,
whilst I was unaware that Kazuki has a younger brother named Daisuke who was
also a racing driver.
Kazuki began racing go Karts in 1996 and won the ’99 Suzuka Formula ICA Karting Championship
before graduating to Single Seaters, as part of the Toyota Young Drivers
programme to distinguish himself from his father’s Honda ties.
Having won the Formula Toyota title in his
Sophomore season in 2003, Nakajima moved up to the All Japan Formula 3 series
the following year and claimed two wins enroute to fifth Overall, then finished
Runner-up in ‘05.
Kazuki graduated to the Formula 3 Euroseries for
’06 and finished 7th Overall. The following year he joined the DAMS
team in GP2 finishing 5th Overall, along with having been named as
one of Williams-Toyota’s two Test Drivers that season.
Nakajima made his Formula 1 debut at the 2007 Season Finale Brazilian
Grand Prix after Alexander Worz had retired from F1. Interestingly, Kazuki’s team-mate
was another second generation driver, future F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg.
Nakajima scored all of his formula 1 Points
during his first Full season in F1 with a best finish of sixth at the
Australian Grand Prix. Followed by two seventh place finishes at Barcelona and
Monaco, and two eighth places at Silverstone and Singapore. As ’09 would see
him failing to score a single point that season and finding himself out of a
ride when Team Willy’ signed Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg for 2010.
Returning to Japan, he spent 2010 as a Formula
Nippon Test Driver before winning the title in 2012, and also won the Super
Formula Championship in 2014.
Kazuki made his FIA World Endurance Championship
(WEC) Debut for the Factory Toyota Squad at Circuit de la Sarthe in 2012, and
scored his first win at that year’s Six Hours of Fuji, while continuing as a
Part-time driver the next two years.
For 2015 he became a Fulltime Toyota Werks’ WEC
Driver and became Japan’s second ever Sports Car Champion during the 2018-19
season, along with now having scored a Hat Trick of Le Mans 24 Hours victories.
Kamui Kobayashi
Birthplace: Amagasaki,
Japan
DOB: 9/13/86, Age 34
Formula 1
Teams:
Toyota, Sauber, Caterham (2009-2012, 2014)
First
Race: 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last
Race: 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Sports Cars
Teams:
AF Corse, Toyota, Wayne Taylor Racing, Action Express Racing
First
Race: 2013 Six Hours of Silverstone
Two
times 24 Hours of Daytona winner (2019-2020)
2019-20
FIA World Endurance Championship Champion
Kamui Kobayashi, who I’m a Huge Fan of and
prefer calling him “K Squared,” began Karting at Age 9 and won four Karting
Championships over the next seven years before graduating to Single Seaters as
part of Toyota’s Young Drivers Academy in 2004. Kamui was immediately successful
and won two races in that year’s Italian Formula Renault 2.0 series.
The following season, Kobayashi claimed
both the Italian and European Renault 2.0 Championships with six wins apiece
before graduating to the Formula 3 euroseries where he finished 8th
Overall and 1st in the Rookies Championship.
In ’07 Kamui scored his first F3 Euroseries
victory en route to 4th Overall in the Championship before moving up
to gP2 with DAMS in 2008. Although his form in the main GP2 series was modest with
two seasons finishing P16, he did win the 2008-09 GP2 Asia Championship.
Also beginning in ’07, Kobayashi was
first nated once of Toyota’s two F1 Test Drivers before spending the next two seasons as it’s
Reserve Driver upon Frank Montagny’s departure. As Kamui made his Formula 1
debut at Suzuka during the first two practice sessions for the ’09 Japanese Grand Prix.
Kobayashi made his F1 race debut at the
following round in Sao Paolo as Timo glock’s substitute, where he drew the ire
of eventual ’09 F1 World Champion Jenson button! As it’s funny how other drivers
just expect Rookies to Pull Over for them…
And I can still vaguely recall rootin’
for Kamui to finish sixth at the inaugural season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix,
especially since his Bosom Buddy Bloody Jense’ (Button) was Harrying him for
the final Championship point, with Kobayashi finishing P6 and garnering his
first Formula 1 poin.
Unfortunately for Kamui, Toyota Quit
Formula 1 at the end of 2009, leaving him without a drive, before he was
confirmed as part of Sauber’s Drivers lineup alongside Pedro de la Rosa. He
scored 32 points en route to 12th Overall, and impressively Murray Walker
declared him Japan’s Best F1 Talent to Date! As he got a reputation for not only
making daring overtaking maneuvers, but Martin BillyBob’ Brundle called him the
“Last of the Late Brakers!”
Kamui ultimately stayed at Sauber for
three seasons and scored multiple points, steadily moving towards the sharp end
of the grid, beginning with a career best finish of 5th at Monaco.
Then P4 in Germany before becoming only the third Japanese Driver to ever stand
on the Podium in 2012, when he claimed a fantastic third, jubilantly on Home soil
at Suzuka Circuito!
Yet Kobayashi wasn’t retained at Sauber
following the 2012 season and instead opted to become a Tintops Driver when
joining AF corse in the FIA World endurance Championship’s (WEC) Le Mans GTE
Pro category driving a Ferrari 458 Italia “Saloon.”
Kamui returned to Formula 1 for the 2014
season at the beleaguered Caterham team where he grew disillusioned with the
team’s direction, along with being replaced for one race presumably due to the
need for cash infusion, since Caterham would ultimately Quit F1 at season’s end.
From 2015 onwards, Kamui has focused his
attention on being a Werks’ Toyota WEC Sports Car Driver, becoming only Japan’s
third ever Sports Car Champion. Along with forays Stateside in the IMSA
Championship where he’s won the prestigious rolex 24 twice for Wayne Taylor
Racing, along with being part of Jimmie Johnson’s All Star Cast at Action
Express Racing in the endurance rounds this season.
Yuki Tsunoda
Birthplace: Sagamihara,
Kanagawa, Japan
DOB: 5/11/00, Age 21
Formula 1
Teams:Scuderia
AlphaTauri (2021)
First
Race: 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix
Yuki Tsunoda began Karting in 2010 in
the Junior category and worked his way up the ladder of Honda’s suzuka Circuit
Karting School’s ranks to the Advanced Formula category before graduating to
Single Seaters in 2016, making a “One off” Debutante appearance in Formula 4.
Tsunoda with Honda’s backing joined it’s
Formula Dream project and contested his first full season of Japan F4 in 2017, winning
it’s regional Championship. Then won the Japanese F4 title the following year,
scoring seven wins.
Yuki then moved up to the newly created
FIA Formula 3 championship in 2019, along with contesting the EuroFormula Open series
claiming a win apiece in each Championship and finishing 9th Overall in F3,. He
also became a Red Bull Junior Driver due to it’s “tie-up” with Honda.
For 2020, Yuki joined Carlin’s FIA
Formula 2 team and claimed third Overall on the strength of 3 wins, 4 Poles and
7 Podium finishes, bested only by Mick Schumacher and Callum Ilott, with “Schuey
Junior” winning the title.
Tsunoda then tested for Scuderia AlphaTauri
at the season ending F1 Young Drivers test at Abu Dhabi and was subsequently
confirmed at AlphaTauri as Daniil Kvyat’s replacement for 2021.
Yuki scored points in his Formula 1
debut with Ross Brawn gushing over how great Tsunoda was, before the young
charger lashed out prublicly at his team for giving F1 team-mate Pierre Gasley
superior equipment! But has managed to score 10 Championship points thru
Silverstone…
http://www.nofenders.net/2021/04/f1-brawn-n-brown-duet-with-some.html
For the previous two forlorn, former Japanese
Formula 1 Drivers Yuji Ide and Sakon Yamamoto, please visit the following No Fenders
link.
http://www.nofenders.net/2021/07/former-japanese-formula-1-one-hit.html
