Takuma Sato

Takuma Sato has the Japanese podium that was the longest time coming. Born in 1977, he made his debut in 2002 with Jordan and at the last race of that year, at Suzuka in front of his home crowd, he finished fifth, his first two points.

His big year was 2004 with BAR. He was third in the United States, the first podium for a Japanese driver since Aguri Suzuki in 1990, and finished eighth in the championship with 34 points. He always raced on the attack, which brought him as many overtakes as mistakes: in 2005, with the same team, he scored a single point.

In 2006 he moved to Super Aguri, the new team of Suzuki himself, which started out as the slowest on the grid. That is where he left his most remembered race: in Canada in 2007 he passed Fernando Alonso, the world champion and in a McLaren, and finished sixth. Super Aguri closed midway through 2008 for lack of money and Sato was left without a car.

One podium in seven seasons. Then he went to IndyCar and won the Indianapolis 500 twice, in 2017 and 2020.