Kazuki Nakajima: the driver debates
In the half-term driver rankings I picked Kazuki Nakajima out as the most impressive rookie of the season so far.
He has only started ten Grands Prix to date but has scored points on four occasions. Could he become the best Japanese driver since Takuma Sato?
At the end of last year I thought Toyota’s decision to move Nakajima into F1 with Williams, their engine customers, was too hasty. Nakajima was top rookie in GP2 in 2007 but hadn’t won a race and had made several rash mistakes.
His first two races seemed to agree with my assessment – he hit his pit crew on his debut for Williams at Interlagos last year, and in the first race of 2008 drove into Robert Kubica during a safety ar period.
Since then he’s cut down on the number of incidents and his potential is beginning to become clear. Even at Melbourne he hung in amid the carnage for a fine sixth.
And which Williams driver scored points in the downpour at Silverstone this weekend? Clue: it wasn’t Nico Rosberg. In fact, Nakajima was the only driver still nursing a set of extreme wets at the end, the sorry state of which prevented him from being to stop Jarno Trulli passing him for seventh on the final lap.
Nakajima is the son of Saturo Nakajima who was a competent F1 racer but owed much of his time in the sport to patrons Honda. The younger Nakajima is backed by Toyota, but the sparks of talent we’ve seen so far prove he’s not just in F1 for marketing reasons. That said, with the form he’s shown so far Toyota may want to bring him home from Williams sooner rather than later.
How do you rate Kazuki Nakajima?
More on Kazuki Nakajima: Kazuki Nakajima biography
Read more about Kazuki Nakajima at Maximum Motorsport
Vi84 said on 11th July 2008, 17:15
Just a thing to say: I have always considered Rosberg a good driver. Now Kazuki has the same points. Probably it means something: Rosberg is not that good, or Nakajima is not so bad… ;-)
Brar Soler said on 12th July 2008, 11:00
In the last 20 laps Rosberg was the faster in the average. He had a better pace then Nakajima, Trulli and Alonso. Finished just behind Kasuki, probaly the best Japan driver ever.
Adam said on 12th July 2008, 12:10
I think Nakajima’s done gr8 this year, sure he will be prone to mistakes but he’s equal on points wiv Nico and if it wasn’t for the last lap of Silverstone he’d be ahead of Rosberg in the standings.
The guy im prediciting will be better than Sato as already from a young age he looks a mature driver. However he’ll need to continue this form into the 2ndhalf of the season and do well in 2009 which will be a difficult year for him as he wont be considered a rookie and he wont want to slip into the midfield struggling.
Toby said on 13th July 2008, 5:22
Clive is right. He’s been banging on about Kaz since last year!
Nakajima seems to have everything required to be a regular in F1 for years to come. He races well, but seems disturbingly unable to get the car into Q3. Now this isn’t such a problem, with Williams’ form dropping off lately, but it is an issue he will have to rectify or risk going the way of DC and Wurz. While I think Nakajima is a good, potentially great F1 driver, too often he may end up only regaining places in the race that he should have had in qualifying. Too harsh, perhaps?
Rosberg is becoming a Raikkonen ’08 spec enigma. How much poor form is he really showing, and how much is it down to the performance of the car and the always strange Williams pitwall strategies?
It’ll be an interesting second half of the season to compare these two drivers as Williams puts more resources into this year’s program. I personally don’t expect to see much qualifying improvement from Nakajima, which could ultimately hurt his career. Let’s hope he figures it out, or F1 changes the format to help these poor one-lappers.
Gman said on 13th July 2008, 23:37
Just recently I was wondering if I was the only fan who thought Kaz was outpacing his much better-known teammate. Rosberg has some consistency and great promise, but aside form the podium in week 1, I think Kaz has been far ahead of him this season.