Kazuki Nakajima

Kazuki Nakajima

Born	(1985-01-11) 11 January 1985 Okazaki, Japan
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Japanese
Active years	2007–2009
Teams	Williams
Entries	36
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	9
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2007 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last entry	2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Kazuki Nakajima (中嶋 一貴, Nakajima Kazuki, born January 11, 1985) is a professional racing driver who drove in Formula One for the Williams-Toyota team from 2007 to 2009. Prior to that he had been their test driver, as well as a competitor in the GP2 Series for the DAMS team.

Nakajima was signed to drive for Stefan GP in 2010, but the team was not accepted as an entrant in the Formula One world championship. After his F1 career ended, he moved back to Japan to compete in Formula Nippon, and he is also one of Toyota's drivers for its current prototype sportscar project.

Racing career

Pre-Formula One

Born in Okazaki, Aichi, Nakajima is the son of the retired Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima. His younger brother, Daisuke, is also a racing driver. 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.

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.

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.

Nakajima driving the Williams FW29 at the 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

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. Nakajima's debut in a Formula One car came at Fuji Speedway during November 2006, where he completed four demonstration laps in wet conditions.

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 7,000 km of testing for the team.

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.

Formula One

Nakajima driving in the rainy first free practice session during the 2007 Brazilian GP. His father Satoru also made his Formula One debut at the Brazilian GP in 1987.

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. Nakajima finished tenth in the race, setting the fifth fastest lap – quicker than his team-mate Nico Rosberg, who finished fourth.

Nakajima driving for Williams at the 2008 British Grand Prix.

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."

On 7 November it was confirmed by Williams that Nakajima would partner Rosberg at the Williams team for the 2008 season. He had a successful start to 2008 at the Australian Grand Prix, finishing seventh but promoted to sixth after Rubens Barrichello was disqualified, even whilst knocking Robert Kubica out of the race and being penalised. He then finished seventh in the Spanish Grand Prix, having outqualified his teammate. A first-corner incident with Giancarlo Fisichella at Istanbul forced him to retire. Nakajima scored two points at Monaco where no Japanese Formula One driver had previously scored a point, and retired from the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix after hitting the pit wall when pitting for a new front wing. Nakajima scored another point at the 2008 British Grand Prix, after losing seventh place on the last lap. In Singapore, Nakajima made it to the third qualifying round for the first time qualifying 10th on the grid. He went on to finish eighth and scored a point.

Nakajima driving for Williams at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.

Nakajima was retained by Williams for the 2009 season. At the 2009 Australian Grand Prix he crashed into the wall at turn six, putting him out of the race. Nakajima was the only driver to retire at Bahrain, stopping five laps before the end with overheated oil. He also crashed on the penultimate lap of the Monaco Grand Prix whilst running in 10th place. He came close to scoring at several Grands Prix, including losing a points finish after being delayed in the pit lane at the Turkish Grand Prix. At the British Grand Prix, Nakajima secured his highest ever Formula One grid slot, qualifying in an impressive fifth place ahead of world championship leader Jenson Button. However, his race was compromised by poor pit strategy, and he eventually finished outside the points. Nakajima once again nearly scored at the Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing just 0.7 seconds behind eighth place Jarno Trulli. He finished ninth again in Singapore. At Brazil Nakajima was once again in contention for points until being taken out by rookie and fellow countrymen Kamui Kobayashi. Nakajima finished the season having scored no points, with his team-mate Nico Rosberg being single-handedly responsible for every championship point scored by the Williams team, with Nakajima being the only non points scorer out of the drivers who took part in each race in 2009.

Williams signed Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hülkenberg for 2010, leaving Nakajima without a seat. However, in January, reports tied Nakajima to team Stefan GP, which had consolidated remnants of the Toyota F1 team after the Japanese manufacturer's withdrawal from the sport in late 2009. Stefan duly confirmed on 19 February 2010 that Nakajima was one of the team's drivers, although the team did not have an entry to the 2010 Formula One season. The FIA subsequently ruled that Stefan GP could not be entered for the season at such a late stage, so Nakajima was left with no drive in Formula One for 2010.

Formula Nippon / Super Formula

Nakajima driving the Dallara SF14 for TOM'S in 2014.

After a successful test in late 2010, Nakajima moved back to the Japanese racing scene by competing in Formula Nippon for 2011. Driving for the TOM'S team, he won his first race at the second round of the season, held at Autopolis, which also moved him into the lead of the drivers' standings. He ultimately finished runner-up to André Lotterer. He continued in the series for the 2012 season winning the title. In the 2013 season he could not defend his Super Formula title finishing 4th overall. However in the 2014 season he regained the title with his Petronas Team TOM'S team. In the 2015 season he ended up 2nd overall.

His younger brother, Daisuke, is also competing in the series.

Sportscars

Nakajima racing for Petronas Team TOM'S in 2011.

Nakajima first competed in the Japanese Super GT series in 2005, driving a Toyota MR-S in the GT300 class with Minoru Tanaka. He returned to the category in 2011, driving a Lexus SC430 in the GT500 class with Formula Nippon rival Lotterer. For 2012 he continues to drive a SC430, now partnered with Loïc Duval.

Nakajima was also selected by Toyota to be one of the drivers for its assault on the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012, driving the prototype Toyota TS030 Hybrid. During the race he hit the Nissan DeltaWing hard enough to knock it off the circuit, causing substantial damage to the Nissan, and significant damage to his own car — neither car finished the race.

At the 2012 6 Hours of Fuji, Nakajima took pole position for Toyota before triple stinting in the race to bring home the TS030's second win in competition and Nakajima's first with the team.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Position
2003	Formula Toyota	TOM'S Spirits	10	3	3	134	1st
2004	All-Japan Formula Three	TOM'S	20	2	2	138	5th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	N/A	13th
	Bahrain F3 Superprix		1	0	0	N/A	7th
2005	All-Japan Formula Three	TOM'S	20	3	2	209	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix		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		1	0	0	N/A	NC
	Masters of Formula Three		1	0	0	N/A	26th
2007	Formula One	AT&T Williams	1	0	0	0	22nd
	GP2 Series	DAMS	21	1	0	44	5th
2008	Formula One	AT&T Williams	18	0	0	9	15th
2009	Formula One	AT&T Williams	17	0	0	0	20th
2010	Formula Nippon	Petronas Team TOM'S	Test driver
2011	Formula Nippon	Petronas Team TOM'S	8	0	1	42	2nd
	Super GT		6	0	0	28	10th
2012	Formula Nippon	Petronas Team TOM'S	8	1	2	46	1st
	Super GT		8	0	0	40	7th
	FIA World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing	3	1	1	44	13th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	N/A	DNF
2013	Super Formula	Petronas Team TOM'S	7	1	2	24	4th
	Super GT		8	1	2	60	3rd
	FIA World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing	8	1	1	37.5	12th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	N/A	4th
2014	Super Formula	Petronas Team TOM'S	9	1	2	46	1st
	Super GT		6	2	2	60	5th
	FIA World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing	5	2	0	71	8th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	N/A	DNF
2015	Super Formula	Petronas Team TOM'S	7	0	1	45.5	2nd
	FIA World Endurance Championship	Toyota Racing	7	0	0	75	7th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	N/A	8th
2016	FIA World Endurance Championship	Toyota Gazoo Racing	9	0	0	60	8th
	24 Hours of Le Mans		1	0	0	N/A	NC
	Super Formula	VANTELIN Team TOM'S	9	1	0	22	6th

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2006	Manor Motorsport	Dallara F305/062	Mercedes	HOC 1 2	HOC 2 6	LAU 1 8	LAU 2 1	OSC 1 6	OSC 2 5	BRH 1 14	BRH 2 13	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 5	NÜR 1 9	NÜR 2 18	ZAN 1 22	ZAN 2 3	CAT 1 4	CAT 2 3	BUG 1 11	BUG 2 7	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 DNS	7th	36

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	DC	Points
2007	DAMS	BHR FEA 17	BHR SPR 6	CAT FEA 15	CAT SPR 7	MON FEA 10	MAG FEA 17	MAG SPR 6	SIL FEA 3	SIL SPR 3	NÜR FEA 3	NÜR SPR 3	HUN FEA 2	HUN SPR Ret	IST FEA 6	IST SPR Ret	MNZ FEA DSQ	MNZ SPR 18	SPA FEA Ret	SPA SPR 9	VAL FEA 3	VAL SPR 7	5th	44

Complete Formula One 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 15	GBR 8	GER 14	HUN 13	EUR 15	BEL 14	ITA 12	SIN 8	JPN 15	CHN 12	BRA 17	15th	9
2009	AT&T Williams	Williams FW31	Toyota RVX-09 2.4 V8	AUS Ret	MAL 12	CHN Ret	BHR Ret	ESP 13	MON 15	TUR 12	GBR 11	GER 12	HUN 9	EUR 18	BEL 13	ITA 10	SIN 9	JPN 15	BRA Ret	ABU 13		20th	0

Complete Formula Nippon/Super Formula results

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
2011	Petronas Team TOM'S	SUZ 3	AUT 1	FUJ 3	MOT 3	SUZ C	SUG 3	MOT 2	MOT 2		2nd	42
2012	Petronas Team TOM'S	SUZ 1	MOT 3	AUT 5	FUJ 2	MOT 4	SUG 5	SUZ 12	SUZ 1		1st	46
2013	Petronas Team TOM'S	SUZ 5	AUT 12	FUJ 8	MOT 1	SUG Ret	SUZ Ret	SUZ 1			4th	24
2014	Petronas Team TOM'S	SUZ 5	FUJ 2	FUJ 3	FUJ 1	MOT 7	AUT 6	SUG 2	SUZ 2	SUZ 1	1st	46
2015	Petronas Team TOM'S	SUZ 2	OKA	FUJ 2	MOT 2	AUT 1	SUG 4	SUZ 4	SUZ 2		2nd	45.5
2016	VANTELIN Team TOM'S	SUZ 12	OKA 17	FUJ 2	MOT 7	OKA 19	OKA 2	SUG 4	SUZ 5	SUZ 16	6th	22

Complete Super GT results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
2005	apr	Toyota MR-S	GT300	OKA 4	FUJ 5	SEP 5	SUG 1	MOT Ret	FUJ 7	AUT Ret	SUZ 7	8th	52
2011	Petronas Team TOM'S	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 4	FUJ 4	SEP 6	SUG 9	SUZ 6	FUJ 15	AUT 4	MOT 8	8th	39
2012	Petronas Team TOM'S	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 5	FUJ 4	SEP 13	SUG 2	SUZ Ret	FUJ 4	AUT 15	MOT 8	7th	40
2013	Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S	Lexus SC430	GT500	OKA 12	FUJ 1	SEP 11	SUG 10	SUZ 3	FUJ 12	AUT 1	MOT 5	3rd	60
2014	Lexus Team Petronas TOM'S	Lexus RC F	GT500	OKA 13	FUJ	AUT	SUG 4	FUJ 5	SUZ 1	BUR 1	MOT 10	5th	60

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2012	Toyota Racing	Nicolas Lapierre Alexander Wurz	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	134	DNF	DNF
2013	Toyota Racing	Nicolas Lapierre Alexander Wurz	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	LMP1	341	4th	4th
2014	Toyota Racing	Stéphane Sarrazin Alexander Wurz	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	LMP1-H	219	DNF	DNF
2015	Toyota Racing	Sébastien Buemi Anthony Davidson	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	LMP1	386	8th	8th
2016	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Sébastien Buemi Anthony Davidson	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	384	NC	NC

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2012	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	Toyota 3.4 L V8 (Hybrid)	SEB	SPA	LMS Ret	SIL 2	SÃO	BHR	FUJ 1	SHA		13th	44
2013	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS030 Hybrid	Toyota 3.4 L V8 (Hybrid)	SIL	SPA Ret	LMS 4	SÃO	COA	FUJ 1	SHA	BHR Ret		12th	37.5
2014	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	Toyota 3.7 L V8 (Hybrid)	SIL 2	SPA 3	LMS Ret	COA	FUJ 2	SHA 2	BHR	SÃO		8th	71
2015	Toyota Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS040 Hybrid	Toyota 3.7 L V8 (Hybrid)	SIL 3	SPA WD	LMS 8	NÜR 5	COA 4	FUJ 5	SHA 6	BHR 4		7th	75
2016	Toyota Gazoo Racing	LMP1	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	Toyota 2.4 L V6 (Hybrid)	SIL 16	SPA 27	LMS NC	NÜR 5	MEX Ret	COA 5	FUJ 4	SHA 3	BHR 4	8th	60

External links

• Official Website
• Career statistics
• Official F1 website interview