Satoru Nakajima

The native form of thispersonal nameisNakajima Satoru.This article usesWestern name orderwhen mentioning individuals.

Satoru Nakajima(Japanese:Trung đảo ngộ,Hepburn:Nakajima Satoru,born 23 February 1953)is a Japanese formerracing driverandmotorsportexecutive, who competed inFormula Onefrom1987to1991.

Satoru Nakajima
Trung đảo ngộ
Nakajima in 2008
Born	(1953-02-23)23 February 1953 Okazaki, Aichi,Japan
Children	Kazuki Nakajima Daisuke Nakajima
Formula OneWorld Championship career
Nationality	Japanese
Active years	1987–1991
Teams	Lotus,Tyrrell
Engines	Honda,Judd,Ford
Entries	80 (74 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	16
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
First entry	1987 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last entry	1991 Australian Grand Prix
Previous series
1986 1984–1986 1984–1986 1977–1986 1982 1979–1981 1978	International F3000 World Sportscar All Japan Endurance Japanese Formula Two European Formula Two Formula Pacific Japan British F3
Championship titles
1981–1982, 1984–1986	Japanese Formula Two

Born and raised inOkazaki, Aichi,Nakajima began his racing career at theSuzuka Circuitin 1973. He progressed toJapanese Formula Twoin1977,winning a then-record five titles between1981and1986,with 21 victories across 10 seasons. After several appearances insportscar racingvia theWorld Sportscar Championshipand theAll Japan Endurance Championship—as well as a season inInternational Formula 3000—Nakajima signed forLotusin1987to partnerAyrton Senna,becoming thefirst Japanese driverto compete full-time in Formula One at theBrazilian Grand Prix.He scored his maiden points finish at the following round inSan Marino,and achieved a career-best fourth place at theBritish Grand Prix.

Across his remaining two seasons at Lotus, Nakajima scored points finishes at the1988 Brazilianand1989 AustralianGrands Prix, setting thefastest lapand finishing fourth at the latter. Nakajima moved toTyrrellin1990,scoring points finishes in theUnited States,Italyandhis home Grand Prix in Japan.Retaining his seat for his1991campaign at Tyrrellunder Honda power,Nakajima scored his final points at the season-openingUnited States Grand Prix,leaving at the end of the season to join Honda'sworks teamproject. Nakajima tested theRC100and related models until 1994, when Honda pulled out of Formula One following theJapanese asset price bubble.

Upon retiring from motor racing, Nakajima focused on hisNakajima Racingteam, which he had founded in 1984 toprivatelyenterMarchchassis into theJapanese Formula Two Championship,winning three consecutive titles until1986.Nakajima won fourFormula Nippon Teams' Championship titlesbetween1999and2009,still competing in the newly-formedSuper Formula Championship,as well as theSuper GT Series.Nakajima's sonsKazukiandDaisukeboth became racing drivers, the former also competing in Formula One forWilliamsfrom2007to2009.

Early life

Satoru Nakajima was born on 23 February 1953 to a farming family living just outsideOkazaki,Japan.He began driving cars in his early teens in the family's garden with his older brother giving him tips, careful that their father didn't catch them. He felt exhilaration behind the wheel of a car, and from then on knew what he wanted to do.

Career

Nakajima started racing after he finished school and passed his driver's licence. In 1973 he was a rookie in theSuzuka Circuitseries, which he won. Five years later, he won his first race inJapanese Formula Two.In 1981 he won his first championship, thus beginning a period of domination in the series. He won five of the next six championships, all of them equipped with aHondaV6engine.

Nakajima participated in 80Formula OneGrands Prix, debuting in theBrazilian Grand Prixon 12 April 1987, bringingHondaengines to theLotusteam. He was 34 years old in his debut race, making him one of Formula One's oldest debutants of the modern era.He finished sixth, and so scored a point, in only his second race, the1987 San Marino Grand Prix.During his debut season, Nakajima was outclassed by his team mateAyrton Senna,and many questioned Nakajima's place in F1, stating that if not for Honda he would not have been there on merit.

Honda had originally pushed for Nakajima to replaceNigel MansellatWilliamsfor the1986season (the Japanese company supplied their engines exclusively to Williams from 1984–86). However, Williams ownerFrank Williamsrefused to dump Mansell, who despite scoring only 7 points in the first 12 rounds, had finally won his first two races towards the end of the1985season. Frank Williams, who was always more interested in the Constructors' rather than the Drivers' Championship, reasoned that having race winner Mansell, and then dual World ChampionNelson Piquet,would give the team its best shot at the Constructors' title, and that the unproven (in F1) Nakajima would struggle (Williams was to be proven correct on this). Lotus were looking for a new engine partner for 1987 asRenaultwere pulling out of the sport at the end of 1986. Lotus agreed to take on Nakajima replacingJohnny Dumfriesin the second seat as a part of the new engine deal with Honda.

Nakajima driving aLotus 101,originally used during the1989Formula One season, at the2011 Japanese Grand Prix.

1988was another miserable year in F1 for both Nakajima and Lotus. In the final season for turbos and using the same V6 engines that propelled McLaren drivers Senna andAlain Prostto win 15 of the season's 16 races, Nakajima scored only a single point during the season finishing sixth in the opening race inBrazil.He also failed to qualify theLotus 100Tat bothMonacoandDetroit,the only times between its first race in1983and the end of the turbo era in 1988 that a Honda V6 turbo failed to qualify for any Grands Prix entered. Despite this, on occasions Nakajima was able to push his team mate, reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet who had replaced Senna.

Not normally the best of qualifiers or racers despite having equipment superior to most, including the same all-powerful Honda V6 turbo engine as the McLarens, Nakajima could have easily been excused for performing poorly at the1988 Japanese Grand PrixatSuzuka,if he chose to compete at all. Only 30 minutes before the start of the Friday morning's practice session he was informed that his mother had died that morning (28 October). In the circumstances his effort in Saturday qualifying to equal his more illustrious team mate's time right down to the thousandth of a second was exceptional. Piquet and Nakajima qualified 5th and 6th respectively, Piquet in front only for having set his time earlier in the last qualifying session. Nakajima was actually faster than the triple World Champion on the Friday, an effort that won the much-maligned Japanese driver new fans and much praise in the F1 paddock.

Despite most believing he did not truly deserve to be in F1, Lotus showed faith in Nakajima when they re-signed him for1989,even after Honda announced would not be supplying their engines to the team after the 1988 season. This left Nakajima and team-mate Piquet driving theJuddV8poweredLotus 101(Nakajima continued to wear Honda patches on his racing suit during the years he did not drive for a Honda-powered team). The pair had a very up-and-down season, with both failing to qualify for the1989 Belgian Grand Prix,the first time in their 30-year history that Lotus had failed to make the grid, symbolically heralding the beginning of the end for the British team. A great upside to Nakajima's 1989 was a fourth place andfastest lapin the rain-soakedAustralian Grand Prix,scoring his only points of the year and also equaling his best career finish, from the1987 British Grand Prix.Nakajima's race inAdelaide,in which he was dead last at the end of the first lap after a spin soon after the start and only finished 4.648 seconds behind the 3rd placedWilliams-RenaultV10ofRiccardo Patrese,even drew praise from those who had criticised him in the past such asBBCtelevision commentator and1976World ChampionJames Hunt.

Nakajima joinedTyrrellfor the1990season (along with the promise of the team using the Honda V10 engine in1991). He raced for them for two uneventful years at the back of the pack before ending his career. In 1990 he was team mate to young FrenchmanJean Alesi,who scored 13 points (including two second places) to Nakajima's three. In 1991 with the Honda engines used by McLaren in 1990 (and serviced byMugen Motorsports), he was joined by ItalianStefano Modena.Nakajima was again outscored by his team mate, with Modena scoring 10 points and Nakajima's two points coming from finishing 5th in the opening race of the season inPhoenix.

Honda left Formula One a year later to lay the first bricks on a works team, one that they had been working on during the Formula One season, and that CEONobuhiko Kawamotofinally admitted to in October. The car, the Honda RC100 was unveiled to the media in February 1993, driven by Nakajima. Shortly afterwards, it passed theFédération Internationale du Sport Automobile(FISA) crash tests, meaning that the company could enter their team into F1 competition. In an attempt to improve on their previouschassis,Honda built two more, the RC101 and 101B, the latter intended for racing purposes, the former for crash testing. Nakajima had the first public testing of the 101B in Suzuka in January 1994. The company decided against entering its own cars in F1 at this time, instead opting to further their engine development in America withCART,and later, theIRL.

Personal life

Nakajima still lives in the family home near Okazaki. He owns theNakajima Racingentry in JapaneseFormula 3000/Formula Nippon/ Super Formula. Nakajima drivers have won theFormula Nipponchampionship three times,Tom Coroneldoing so in 1999,Toranosuke Takagiin 2000, andRalph Firmanin 2002.

Nakajima's son,Kazukiraced for theWilliams teamin Formula One in the2008and2009 seasons.Nakajima's younger son,Daisuke,is also a racing driver. He competed in theBritish Formula 3 Championshipin2009and2010.After their careers in open-wheel racing, both turned to sports car racing; Kazuki raced in theFIA World Endurance ChampionshipwithToyota Gazoo Racingwhile Daisuke raced inSuper GT;both have since retired from racing. Kazuki retired after the2021 FIA World Endurance Championshipto take up a managerial role with Toyota Gazoo Racing,while Daisuke retired at the end of the2019 Super GT Seriesand has since maintained a low profile.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
1977	Japanese Formula Two	Heros Racing Corporation	7	0	0	0	2	52	3rd
1978	Japanese Formula Two	Heros Racing Corporation	6	1	1	1	6	67	3rd
	Vandervell British Formula Three	Nova Engineering	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	BP Super Visco British Formula Three		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1979	Japanese Formula Two	i&i Racing Development	6	0	1	0	1	28	7th
	Formula Pacific Japan		1	1	1	1	1	15	11th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
1980	Japanese Formula Two	i&i Racing Development	5	2	1	1	3	59	3rd
	Formula Pacific Japan		7	2	2	?	4	57	2nd
1981	Formula Pacific Japan	i&i Racing Development	9	2	5	?	7	89	2nd
	Japanese Formula Two		5	2	0	1	5	79	1st
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
1982	Japanese Formula Two	John Player SpecialTeam Ikuzawa	6	4	1	1	5	80	1st
	European Formula Two		5	0	0	0	1	6	13th
1983	Japanese Formula Two	Harada Racing Company	8	2	2	0	3	65	4th
1984	Japanese Formula Two	Heros Racing Corporation	8	4	6	3	6	107	1st
	All-Japan Endurance Championship	TOM'S	3	0	1	0	1	12	16th
	World Sportscar Championship		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
1985	Japanese Formula Two	Heros RacingwithNakajima	8	5	6	3	8	115	1st
	All-Japan Endurance Championship	TOM'S	5	0	0	0	2	34	9th
	World Sportscar Championship		2	0	0	0	1	6	56th
1986	Japanese Formula Two	Heros RacingwithNakajima	8	1	5	4	6	92	1st
	International Formula 3000	Ralt Racing Ltd	7	0	0	0	0	7	10th
	World Sportscar Championship	TOM'S	2	0	0	0	0	2	70th
	All-Japan Endurance Championship		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1987	Formula One	CamelTeam LotusHonda	16	0	0	0	0	7	12th
1988	Formula One	CamelTeam LotusHonda	14	0	0	0	0	1	16th
1989	Formula One	CamelTeam Lotus	13	0	0	1	0	3	21st
1990	Formula One	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	15	0	0	0	0	3	15th
1991	Formula One	BraunTyrrellHonda	16	0	0	0	0	2	15th

Japanese Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races inboldindicate pole position) (Races initalicsindicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
1977	Heros Racing Corporation	Nova	BMW	SUZ 4	SUZ Ret	MIN	SUZ 10	FUJ 5	FUJ 2	SUZ 3	SUZ 5	3rd	52 (53)
1978	Heros Racing Corporation	Nova Martini	BMW Renault	SUZ 3	FUJ 2	SUZ 1	SUZ 2	SUZ 2	MIN	SUZ 2		3rd	67
1979	i&i Racing Development	March	BMW	SUZ 12	MIN	SUZ 11	FUJ 4	SUZ 9	SUZ Ret	SUZ 2		7th	28
1980	i&i Racing Development	March	BMW	SUZ 1	MIN	SUZ 1	SUZ 3	SUZ 6	SUZ 6			3rd	59
1981	i&i Racing Development	Ralt March	Honda	SUZ 3	SUZ 2	SUZ 3	SUZ 1	SUZ 1				1st	79
1982	John Player SpecialTeam Ikuzawa	March	Honda	SUZ 1	FUJ 6	SUZ 1	SUZ 3	SUZ 1	SUZ 1			1st	80 (98)
1983	Harada Racing Company	March	Honda	SUZ 1	FUJ DSQ	MIN Ret	SUZ 4	SUZ Ret	FUJ 13	SUZ 1	SUZ 2	4th	65
1984	Heros Racing Corporation	March	Honda	SUZ 1	FUJ 3	MIN Ret	SUZ 9	SUZ 1	FUJ 2	SUZ 1	SUZ 1	1st	107 (109)
1985	Heros RacingwithNakajima	March	Honda	SUZ 2	FUJ 1	MIN 1	SUZ 1	SUZ 2	FUJ 2	SUZ 1	SUZ 1	1st	115 (145)
1986	Heros RacingwithNakajima	March	Honda	SUZ 2	FUJ 2	MIN 4	SUZ 1	SUZ 2	FUJ 3	SUZ 2	SUZ 4	1st	92 (112)

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races inboldindicate pole position; races initalicsindicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1986	Team Ralt	RaltRT20	HondaV8	SIL Ret	VAL 5	PAU	SPA	IMO 8	MUG 5	PER Ret	ÖST 4	BIR 8	BUG	JAR	11th	7

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races initalicsindicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1987	CamelTeam Lotus Honda	Lotus99T	HondaRA166E 1.5V6t	BRA 7	SMR 6	BEL 5	MON 10	DET Ret	FRA NC	GBR 4	GER Ret	HUN Ret	AUT 13	ITA 11	POR 8	ESP 9	MEX Ret	JPN 6	AUS Ret	12th	7
1988	CamelTeam Lotus Honda	Lotus100T	HondaRA168E 1.5V6t	BRA 6	SMR 8	MON DNQ	MEX Ret	CAN 11	DET DNQ	FRA 7	GBR 10	GER 9	HUN 7	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN 7	AUS Ret	16th	1
1989	CamelTeam Lotus	Lotus101	JuddCV 3.5V8	BRA 8	SMR NC	MON DNQ	MEX Ret	USA Ret	CAN DNQ	FRA Ret	GBR 8	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL DNQ	ITA 10	POR 7	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 4	21st	3
1990	Tyrrell Racing Organisation	Tyrrell018	Ford Cosworth DFR3.5V8	USA 6	BRA 8															15th	3
		Tyrrell019				SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 11	MEX Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 6	POR DNS	ESP Ret	JPN 6	AUS Ret
1991	BraunTyrrell Honda	Tyrrell020	HondaRA101E 3.5V10	USA 5	BRA Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 10	MEX 12	FRA Ret	GBR 8	GER Ret	HUN 15	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 13	ESP 17	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	15th	2

Helmet

Nakajima's helmet was white with two red lines forming a circular end on the chin area, with a wide line on the rear of the helmet with written NAKAJIMA on it. His sonKazuki Nakajimauses a slightly different version of this helmet.

Video games

Between 1988 and 1994, Nakajima endorsed many Formula One video games for various consoles like Family Computer, Sega Mega Drive, Game Boy and Super Famicom. While most of these games (released byVarie) were only released in Japan, one of the games Nakajima had endorsed for the Mega Drive was released internationally asFerrari Grand Prix Challenge.He also appeared as a playable driver in his Lotus 100T in Codemasters'F1 2013.

External links

• Nakajima Racing
• Satoru Nakajimacareer summary at DriverDB