Yuji Ide
Stepping into Grand Prix racing is a daunting experience for any driver, but the hapless Japanese entered red-hot crucible of Bahrain in 2006 with the odds stacked almost impossibly against him. Thrown into a hastily-assembled team, running with an aged interim chassis, and with virtually no testing and no experience of the Grand Prix circuits, found the thirty-one year old Ide generally well off the pace of his team mate Takuma Sato.
Yet he could be blamed for grasping the opportunity to take part in Formula 1 when it was offered to him for he had spent fifteen years climbing the motor sport ladder in his homeland. After four years successfully competing in karts, Yuchi moved into the Japanese F3 series in 1994, his best season being 2000 where he finished runner-up. He also ventured to Europe in 2002 to compete in the French F3 championship to race a Dallara-Renault. Ide took a win in heat two at Croix-en-Ternois (ahead of current F1 hopefuls Olivier Pla and Nicholas Lapierre) and wound up seventh in the overall standings.
For 2003 he returned home and finally graduated to the very competitive Formula Nippon series where he quickly became a front-runner. After placing seventh in his debut year, Ide moved up to third in the final standings the following season.
In 2005 Yuji improved again to take the runner’s-up spot proving to be the closest challenger to the champion Satoshi Motoyama, scoring two wins in the eight race series. In addition he also competed in the All-Japan GT Championship racing the intriguingly named Nissan Fairlady Z.
Ide’s brief Formula 1 sojourn came abruptly to an end after just four races, following an opening lap manouevre which sent Christijan Alber’s Midland barrel-rolling into the gravel on the opening lap of the San Marino Grand Prix. The FIA advised Super Aguri to consider standing-down Ide until he had gained more F1 testing experience, and the team dropped him for Franck Montagny.
Despite assurances he would be retained as a test driver, poor Ide replaced with equal swiftness by the younger Formula Nippon star Sakon Yamamoto. His Grand Prix nightmare was well and truly over.
