10 Japanese stars who left their mark as Formula 1 drivers 

Yuki Tsunoda at the F1 Young Drivers test (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)
Yuki Tsunoda at the F1 Young Drivers test (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

Aguri Suzuki

The greatest glory of Suzuki's career among Formula 1 drivers was a podium in front of his home fans at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, but Aguri Suzuki's greatest achievement among Formula 1 drivers was arguably the period where he had his own Grand Prix team, Super Aguri Honda.

Super Aguri only entered 39 races in its short existence but provided opportunities for Formula 1 drivers Takuma Sato, Sakon Yamamoto and Yuji Ide. In 2007, Super Aguri often took the battle to the main Honda team, with Sato picking up a couple of points finishes.

Ukyo Katayama

In the dangerous early-90s period among Formula 1 drivers was a steely racer who recovered from several big accidents, including an appalling start line with Luca Badoer at Estoril.

One of these incidents would change Katayama's life, as a medical inspection after another major crash revealed a tumour on his spine. Ukyo delayed treatment to meet his racing commitments but turned down a switch to front runners Benetton so as not to have to explain his medical problems. Benetton won eleven of seventeen races in the following season.

Ukyo Katayama survived his cancer and went on to narrowly miss out on a Le Mans victory due to a puncture. He also went on to commentate on F1 for Japanese television, as well as run his own team in Japanese Super GT.

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Yuji Ide

Ide was an inexperienced driver among Formula 1 drivers, who only competed in four F1 races before being stripped of his superlicense.

Yuji Ide, the slowest in qualifying among Formula 1 drivers at each of these four races, was banned from F1 after understeering into Christijan Albers at Imola and causing the Dutchman to roll repeatedly.

Ide serves as a reminder of the dangers for inexperienced Formula 1 drivers.

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