Satoru Nakajima
Japanese · 1987–1991
Photo: Takayuki Suzuki from Kanagawa, Japan · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Nakajima in numbers
16 official points · best championship finish: 12th in 1987
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Satoru Nakajima was the first Japanese driver to race a full Formula 1 season. Born in 1953 and brought in by Honda, he made his debut in 1987 with Lotus, and his team-mate was Ayrton Senna. In his second race, at Imola, he was sixth: the first points by a Japanese driver.
That year was the best of his career: 7 points, with fourth place at Silverstone. He stayed two more years at Lotus, now alongside Nelson Piquet, and in the last race of 1989, in Adelaide, in a downpour, he started twenty-third and finished fourth with the fastest lap.
He spent his last two seasons at Tyrrell, first alongside Jean Alesi and then Stefano Modena, and retired at the end of 1991 with 74 Grands Prix and 16 points. His sons Kazuki and Daiki also went racing, and Kazuki made it to Formula 1.
Ver en españolRating by season
- First season
- 69 1988
- Peak
- 69 1988
- 1991
- 67 Tyrrell
4 seasons in the database, from 1988 to 1991. Our own rating, from 50 to 99.
Teams
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Best year
1987
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His team-mates
4 team-mates across 5 seasons. When both finished the race, Nakajima was ahead in 1 of 22; on the grid he started ahead in 4 of 74.
| Year | Team-mate | In the race | On the grid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Ayrton SennaTeam Lotus · 16 races | 0-7 | 0-16 |
| 1988 | Nelson PiquetTeam Lotus · 14 races | 1-5 | 1-13 |
| 1989 | Nelson PiquetTeam Lotus · 13 races | 0-1 | 2-11 |
| 1990 | Jean AlesiTyrrell · 16 races | 0-2 | 0-15 |
| 1991 | Stefano ModenaTyrrell · 16 races | 0-6 | 1-15 |
The first number is always Nakajima's. A team-mate is whoever started the same race for the same team. "In the race" only counts races both finished, because a retirement says nothing about who was quicker. "On the grid" is the starting position, with penalties already applied.
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Titles, wins, poles and podiums side by side, against any of the 789 drivers in history.