Kazuki Nakajima
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Kazuki Nakajima (中嶋 一貴 Nakajima Kazuki?, born January 11, 1985 in Aichi, Japan) is a Formula One driver from Japan for the Williams-Toyota team. Prior to that he had been their test driver, as well as a competitor in the GP2 Series for the DAMS team.
Nakajima is the son of the retired Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima.
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[edit] Racing career
[edit] Pre-Formula One
Nakajima started his career in racing in 1996, when he started Karting. Three years later, he was crowned the Suzuka Formula ICA karting champion. After some impressive performances, Nakajima was picked up by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota as part of the corporation's Young Drivers Program.
His father had been backed by Toyota's arch-rivals Honda through his career. Nakajima hoped that by joining Toyota he would shield himself against any accusations that his father had promoted his career.[1]
In 2002, Nakajima won a scholarship in Formula Toyota, which he became champion in a year later. He progressed onto Japanese Formula Three in 2004, winning two of the 20 races and finishing fifth in the Drivers' Championship.
Nakajima stayed in Japanese Formula Three for 2005, finishing second. He dovetailed that championship with appearances in the Japanese GT300 sports car series, where he ended the year eighth.[1]
Nakajima moved to the Formula Three Euroseries in 2006 and competed against the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Paul di Resta. After starting the year strongly with second place in the first race and a win in round four, Nakajima finished seventh with 36 points, behind his Manor Motorsport team-mates Kohei Hirate (third) and Esteban Guerrieri (fourth). The championship was won by di Resta with 86 points.
In November 2006, Nakajima was named a Williams test driver for the 2007 season, alongside fellow test driver Narain Karthikeyan and race drivers Nico Rosberg and Alexander Wurz, targeting a race seat in 2008.[2] Nakajima's debut in a Formula One car came at Fuji Speedway during November 2006, where he completed four laps in wet conditions.[3]
Nakajima raced in the GP2 series in 2007 for the DAMS team alongside French 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix winner Nicolas Lapierre. Nakajima also served as Williams' test driver, completing 7,000km of testing for the team.[4]
Nakajima's first year in GP2 finished with no wins, but five consecutive podiums and ended the year as top rookie. Nakajima's fifth in the championship put him comfortably ahead of Lapierre. Nakajima was found to have caused a collision in Istanbul, when he hit leader Karun Chandhok during the sprint race, and was given a drive-through penalty.[5]
[edit] Formula One
It was announced on 9 October 2007 that following the retirement of Alexander Wurz, Nakajima would race for Williams in the season finale in Brazil.[6] Nakajima finished tenth in the race, setting the fifth fastest lap – quicker than his team-mate Nico Rosberg, who finished fourth.
At his first pit stop, Nakajima overshot his box and hit two of his mechanics. The mechanics were taken to hospital for precautionary checks. Nakajima apologised for the error: “First of all I would say I'm really sorry that some of my mechanics were injured during my pitstop and that I hope they're OK. It was a good first race for me but it was slightly overshadowed.”
Patrick Head commented: “Kazuki drove well on his debut. His lap times were impressive and he's set a marker for a future in Formula One. Some of our mechanics were injured today, they're having some checks done now and we send our best wishes to them.”[7]
On 7 November it was confirmed by Williams that Nakajima would partner Rosberg at the Williams team for the 2008 season.[8] He had a successful start to 2008 at the Australian Grand Prix, finishing 7th but promoted to 6th after Rubens Barrichello was disqualified. He then finshed 7th in the Spanish Grand Prix, having outqualified his teammate.
[edit] Racing record
[edit] Career summary
| Season | Series | Team Name | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Final Placing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Formula Toyota | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 1st |
| 2004 | All-Japan Formula Three | TOM'S | 20 | 2 | 2 | 138 | 5th |
| Macau Grand Prix | TOM'S | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 13th | |
| Bahrain F3 Superprix | TOM'S | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 7th | |
| 2005 | All-Japan Formula Three | TOM'S | 20 | 3 | 2 | 209 | 2nd |
| Macau Grand Prix | TOM'S | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5th | |
| Super GT (GT300) | Kicchouhouzan with apr | 7 | 0 | 1 | 52 | 8th | |
| 2006 | Formula Three Euroseries | Manor Motorsport | 20 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 7th |
| Macau Grand Prix | Manor Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | NC | |
| Masters of Formula Three | Manor Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 26th | |
| 2007 | Formula One | Williams | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22nd |
| GP2 Series | DAMS | 21 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 5th | |
| 2008 | Formula One | Williams | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 11th* |
* Season in progress
[edit] Complete Formula One World Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | AT&T Williams | Williams FW29 | Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8 | AUS TD |
MAL TD |
BHR |
ESP |
MON |
CAN TD |
USA TD |
FRA |
GBR |
EUR |
HUN |
TUR |
ITA |
BEL |
JPN |
CHN TD |
BRA 10 |
22nd | 0 | |
| 2008 | AT&T Williams | Williams FW30 | Toyota RVX-08 2.4 V8 | AUS 6 |
MAL 17 |
BHR 14 |
ESP 7 |
TUR Ret |
MON 7 |
CAN Ret |
FRA |
GBR |
GER |
HUN |
EUR |
BEL |
ITA |
SIN |
CHN |
JPN |
BRA |
11th* | 7* |
* Season in progress
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b Meet the rookies: Kazuki Nakajima. F1Fanatic.co.uk (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
- ^ "Nakajima targets F1 race seat in 2008" Autosport.com. Retrieved 10 November, 2006
- ^ "Nakajima makes F1 debut with Williams" F1Racing.Net. Retrieved 27 November, 2006
- ^ Kazuki Nakajima to make F1 race début. F1Fanatic.co.uk (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
- ^ GP2 Turkey Sprint: Glock back on top. MaximumMotorsport.co.uk (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
- ^ "Williams confirm Nakajima for Brazil", Autosport.com, 2007-10-09. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
- ^ "Nakajima sorry for incident" Retrieved 22 October, 2007
- ^ Nakajima secures Williams drive BBC Sport - 7 November, 2007
[edit] External links
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