Ready for his home debut
The news had been in the air for several days following Liam Lawson’s disappointing results in Australia and China, with the New Zealander set to return to Racing Bulls and hand over his Red Bull seat to Yuki Tsunoda. The official announcement came just ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, where the #22 will make his debut for Milton Keynes’ team in front of his home crowd at Suzuka.
This debut could add further pressure on the 24-year-old, now teammate to reigning champion Max Verstappen, who has consistently outperformed all his garage partners since joining Red Bull. However, Suzuka has also produced some interesting statistics regarding Japanese Formula 1 drivers, representing a nation that has never been able to celebrate top-tier success with its talents. While Japan has been a dominant force in the Constructors’ Championship with Honda, the story has been very different for its drivers.
Two out of three podiums in Japan
Among the 18 Japanese drivers who have competed in at least one Grand Prix, none have ever won a race. Only three have recorded a fastest lap—Satoru Nakajima, Kamui Kobayashi, and Tsunoda—but the most intriguing statistic concerns podiums: two of the three Japanese drivers who have finished in the top three did so at their home Grand Prix, both times at Suzuka.
The first such result dates back to 1990, a race remembered primarily for the infamous first-lap collision between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, which ultimately secured the Brazilian and McLaren the world championship. That incident overshadowed the race itself, which saw Benetton secure its first-ever 1-2 finish, with Nelson Piquet winning ahead of Roberto Moreno, who had been called in to replace Alessandro Nannini. The surprise third-place finisher was Aguri Suzuki, who delivered Larrousse-Lamborghini’s best-ever F1 result.
Japanese drivers remained off the podium until 2004, when Takuma Sato also secured a third-place finish, this time at Indianapolis, behind the two Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello while driving for BAR. However, the third and most recent Japanese podium came in 2012, once again at Suzuka. On that occasion, Kamui Kobayashi finished third, placing his Sauber behind Felipe Massa and race winner Sebastian Vettel.
Leave a Reply