Twenty years after his father raced in Formula 1, Kazuki is hoping to make his mark on the Grand Prix world.
When Kazuki Nakajima was confirmed as a full-time Williams Formula 1 driver for 2008 it was difficult to miss the irony of his appointment. Twenty years previously his father, Satoru, had missed out on a Williams drive. The teams engine supplier Honda insisted on having a Japanese driver in the team but Williams refused. Satoru found himself in an uncompetitive Lotus while Williams lost their engines and suffered greatly as a result.
Perhaps Williams have learned to be more accommodating with their appointment of Kazuki. Their current engine partner is Honda’s great rival, Toyota, who are also keen to have a Japanese presence in the driving seat. Although their will be those who claim Kazuki is only in Formula 1 because of his nationality his racing career so far has demonstrated that he is not short of talent.
Kazuki entered into motor racing through the now traditional avenue of kart racing. Within three seasons he was the Suzuka Formula ICA champion. It was around this time that he first came to the notice of Toyota, who made him part of their young driver development initiative. Racing in the Formula Toyota single-seater series he became champion in 2003.
Japanese Formula 3 was the next step and he had an impressive debut season in the highly competitive category. It yielded two victories and fifth in the overall standings at seasons end. 2005 brought further improvement and second in the championship. He also displayed his versatility that year by finishing eighth in the Japanese GT300 Sports Car Championship. His talent transferred to the Formula 3 Euroseries which he contested in 2006, winning once and finishing seventh in the championship.
It was late in 2006 that Kazuki enjoyed his first experience of Formula 1, when he was signed as a test driver for Williams. His testing duties dovetailed with a full season in GP2 for 2007. Driving for the DAMS team he ended the year as the top rookie, taking a pole position and several podium finishes.
When Williams driver Alex Wurz announced his retirement before the end of the 2007 season Kazuki found himself promoted to the race team for the final race in Brazil. Twenty years earlier his father had made his Formula 1 debut at the same race. Despite injuring some of his pit crew during a stop he had a strong weekend and it was enough to earn him the position full-time for 2008. The Williams has looked competitive in winter testing but any real form won’t be known until the opening race in Australia on March 16th.
