Satoru Nakajima
From a farming family near Okazaki, the young Satoru gained some driving experience when a youngster the within the confines of his parents land. As soon as he was in possession of his driver’s licence he went racing, winning a novice series at Suzuka. His rise to prominence began in 1977 when he finished a strong third in the All Japan Formula 2000 championship, and he repeated the feat a year later in Formula Two winning his first race in a Nova-BMW. Moving from Heroes Racing to Tetsu Isukawa for 1979 was initially a backward step, but once Satoru got to grips with his March 792, he became a force again.
In 1980 Nakajima took two wins in the six race series to finish third once more, but his big breakthrough was not far away. Armed with a March chassis and Honda power Nakajima scorched to his first title in 1981 by a massive margin over the reigning champion Kazuyoshi Hoshino. He was to claim a second consecutive crown the following year, his best score of four wins from six starts providing a maximum possible score of 80 points. Satoru then split from Isukawa to run a privateer March, and despite a win in the first race of the 1983 season he could only take fourth place overall behind Champion Geoff Lees.
The Japanese driver moved teams once more, back to Heroes Racing and reclaimed his crown after holding off a determined challenge from title rival Stefan Johansson at a thrilling finale at Suzuka. The following year he won the title at a canter racking up five wins in the eight race series, and he made it a hat trick in 1986 (the final year of Formula Two’s existence) despite only taking a singleton victory.
Unsurprisingly, the five-time Champion was chosen by Honda to represent them on the Grand Prix stage and put him into the Lotus team alongside the brilliant Ayrton Senna. The Japanese driver inevitably appeared in an unfavourable light compared to the dazzling Brazilian during his first season, and his number two status continued when Nelson Piquet took over as team leader in 1988-89. But Satoru quietly got on with the job as the fortunes of the Hethel outfit plummeted. His last race for the team was in the wet at Adelaide in 1989, and he astonished everyone as he made a mockery of the conditions to finish fourth and take fastest lap.
With help from long-time sponsors Honda and Epson, Satoru moved to Tyrrell in 1990, gaining the odd point with the nimble Cosworth-powered car. He then endured a disappointing final year in F1 despite having V10 Honda power, and it was with some relief that he bowed out and retired from the sport, his head held high and no longer having to carry the burden of his fanatical countrymen's expectations. Honda, having pulled out of Formula 1 at the end of 1992, subsequently developed their own chassis for a possible return which Nakajima tested in 1993 and 1994, but eventually the project was dropped in favour of the engine giants U.S. racing plans.
Nakajima, a huge name in Japan after his Grand Prix exploits, earned millions from endorsements and advertising and then founded his own Formula Nippon team that has three times provided the series champion (Tom Coronel in 1999, Toranosuke Takagi in 2000, and Ralph Firman in 2002). In addition, Andre Lotterer (who finished 2nd in the 2004 championship) actually tied on points with the eventual champion Richard Lyons.
Satoru's son, Kazuki, having successfully competed in the 2006 German Formula 3 Championship, has been taken on as a test driver by Williams-Toyota and will contest the GP2 Series for the DAMS team.
