Satoru
Nakajima

Satoru Nakajima was born on 23 February 1953 in Okazaki, Japan. He began racing at the Suzuka Circuit in 1973 and won the series there. In 1977 he moved up to Japanese Formula Two, where he won his first championship in 1981. He also took part in sportscar racing and spent a season in International Formula 3000.

In 1987 he joined Lotus, who ran Honda engines that year, as team-mate to Ayrton Senna. Nakajima made his debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix aged 34. He was the first Japanese driver to contest a full Formula One season. In only his second race, in San Marino, he finished sixth and scored his first championship point. He finished fourth at the British Grand Prix, which remained his best result, and ended the year 12th in the standings. In 1988 he raced alongside Nelson Piquet and scored just once, with sixth place in Brazil. He failed to qualify in Monaco and Detroit. In 1989 Lotus used Judd engines. Nakajima finished fourth in Australia and set the fastest lap.

He drove for Tyrrell in 1990 and 1991. In 1990 he scored points in the United States, Italy and at his home race in Japan, with Jean Alesi as his team-mate. In 1991 the team used Honda engines and Stefano Modena was alongside him. He took his final points with fifth place at the season opener in the United States. He finished 15th in the championship in both years. In total he started 74 races from 80 entries. He never won a race, stood on the podium or took pole position.

After leaving Formula One he tested the RC100 and related models until 1994 for a planned Honda works team. Once his driving career was over, he concentrated on Nakajima Racing, the team he had founded in 1984. It won four Formula Nippon team championships between 1999 and 2009. His son Kazuki also raced in Formula One for Williams, and his son Daisuke became a racing driver too.

Source: Wikipedia, “Satoru Nakajima”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.