Cream of the Asians

Personal commentary. (Japanese GP week!) :) 

F1 has always been Western dominated, all of which are light-skinned (except for Lewis Hamilton who is the first black to break the glass ceiling). I won't be ranting about this obvious statistic today. In fact, I am just going to write about the best of the minorities. Yes, I am standing up for the Asians in F1.

Asia is a large continent that consists of a grand total of 48 countries. Despite the intimidating figure, F1 has only welcomed five Asian nationalities (Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Malaysian, Filipino) into its world, three (India, Japan, Malaysia) out of the mentioned nationalities have the opportunity to obtain a full time drive.

Malaysia had the one and only Alex Yoong. He is notably known as the first southeast Asian to break into the F1 scene. His F1 career was, however, short-lived, having only contested in 18 races and retired in eight of them. His best finish was a seventh in the 2002 Australian GP. India has two drivers in its records, Karun Chandhok and Nahrain Karthikeyan. These two vary in terms of the time period of their F1 debut (Karthikeyan: 2005, Chandhok: 2010) and the teams they were signed into (Karthikeyan: Jordan, Hispania/HRT, Chandhok: Hispania, Team Lotus). My Indian marshal friend Sid personally feels that Chandhok is a better driver with his experiences and overall performance. Despite that, both of us came to an agreement. Their differences are the ones that make the judgement inconclusive. 

Three of the drivers I have mentioned thus far are some examples of Asian drivers who have made their countrymen proud. Be that as it may, their names are sadly not instilled permanently in everyone’s mind.

The Japanese are a special group of Asians. Everyone loves Japan and their drivers. One common trait that all Japanese seem to have is their pleasant personality, something that was indisputably seen in all of its F1 drivers. Japan is a birthplace for many motorsport drivers. According to a Japanese photographer friend of mine Takashi, there are eleven Japanese F1 drivers (to date) who has/is having a full time seat. They are Satoru Nakajima, Aguri Suzuki, Ukyo Katayama, Taki Inoue, Shinji Nakano, Takuma Sato, Sakon Yamamoto, Kazuki Nakajima and Kamui Kobayashi. 

There are outstanding drivers in every country and it is no different in Japan. To me, Japan’s big four are Nakajima, Suzuki, Sato and Kobayashi.

Satoru Nakajima is a renowned name in F1 history. He is the first F1 driver to represent Japan. Many had brushed him off as a paid driver who got into F1 due to his nationality, received backing from Japanese company, Honda, to be able to last in 4/5 of his years in F1. Judging by the number of finishes he had, it is true that he had benefitted tremendously from Honda. In spite of that, one has to remember that he had debuted in an age that was deemed too old in the motorsport. By putting his age into mind, he was in fact able to gain points in all races (those he did not retire in) in the first three years. He was the first and only Asian F1 driver to earn the fastest lap before Kamui Kobayashi beat him to it. In five years of his F1 career, he has become one of the few Japanese drivers to have earned points every season!

Hiroshige: He actually didn’t get the podium finally and is not famous around European. But I strongly recognize that if he was not there, F1’s door hadn’t been opened for Japanese driver like now.

The name Super Aguri seem to be a recognisable brand in many forms of motorsports. The man behind it is Aguri Suzuki. Suzuki has been heavily involved in motorsports from the very beginning when he raced karts at 12. He was given the chance to debut in his home race in 1988 because of the need to replace Yannick Dalmas who was diagnosed with Legionellosis. The following races were not executed well, he was given DNPQ for 16 races. He may not be as successful as Nakajima but his podium finish in his 1990 home race had put him on equal footing as the driver. He had surpassed many Japanese F1 drivers to make him one of the most successful drivers of his time. In addition to his involvement in team ownership, he has become an established name in F1 and other motorsports (DTM, Formula E). 

Asami: At their (Nakajima, Suzuki) era, F1 was more popular in Japan and people love them.  

Takuma Sato is noted as the new generation of Japanese F1 driver. He started to particpate in racing competitions at a very young age and he is the first Japanese driver to take part in European motorsport series before entering F1. This had given him a huge advantage in getting adept to driving a F1 car, scoring his very first point in his debut year at his home race and scoring a total of 44 points. He managed to score a podium throughout his six years in F1. Sato has always been considered a quick but reckless driver. There were moments when he was the better driver in his team and there were moments when he would be the attention of crashes. Overall, he is a superb driver who has accomplished an extraordinary and multifaceted motorsport career.

Takashi: Takuma Sato is the best Japanese driver because he started his racing career when was he 19. 5 years later, he became a formula one driver. He is the only driver who won Macau GP and British F3 Championship.

Asami: I like him the most! He’s faithful, kind and nice person!

He is swift (he once had a record of having the fastest lap in the 2012 Chinese GP) yet has a good control on race aggression (highly skilled overtaker with an attitude). He has proved himself to be the best Japanese F1 driver up to this point. He is none other than Kamui Kobayashi. Similar to Sato, Kobayashi had an astounding start from his debut. The difference between the two was that Kobayashi was able to outshine Sato by finishing in the points from the very first race as compared to the latter’s 17^th race. He has earned eight top six finishes since then, making him the best Japanese F1 driver with the most career points. He is the only driver after Suzuki who has won a podium in his home race. 

Takashi: Most Japanese fans respect Kamui Kobayashi.

Asami: I think Kamui Kobayashi is the best because he makes me so excited whenever he drives. He’s talented.  He has lots of crazy fans, but also has a few haters.

I was too young to watch the races Nakajima and Suzuki were racing in at that time. Therefore, the two of them are not the best Japanese drivers to me. Even so, I still respect them for their contributions to Japan by being the pioneers to engage in international motorsport. Personally, Sato and Kobayashi are the best but Kobayashi stands out the most. Kobayashi had his F1 career a breeze before Caterham. This year was different. He has yet to earn a point, especially with the many retirements his car is giving him. Even when he was needed to be replaced in the Belgian GP and not getting paid until now in the season, he has pushed the car to its maximum potential. I remember watching him at the Malaysian GP this year ahead of so many drivers, somewhere in top ten. He was consistently faster than his teammate and at some time faster than many of the backmarkers (and some midpack teams). He is a driver who is able to make full use of his competency to put into play in an awful situation. I hope he will have another year and several others in F1. Be it another year at Caterham or a better team or another backmarker, so long as he is in F1, I will be gratified. I am sure the people of Japan will be too for he is their best shot.

I would like to thank my three Japanese friends: Hiroshige, Asami and Takashi whom I have come to know on Instagram. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and giving me some insights on the Japanese drivers! Love working with three of you! :) I hope to attend a race at Suzuka with you guys someday! ;) 

P.S.  I am currently on holiday and therefore I will be missing this week's race. :'( (BUMMER! :/ ) I promise I will continue with the pre-race and race commentaries next week at the Russian GP! Enjoy Suzuka weekend, peeps! :*