10 Japanese stars who left their mark as Formula 1 drivers 

Shinji Nakano

Nakano, backed by Honda tuners Mugen, entered 33 races for Prost and Minardi. He was one of the more talented Formula 1 drivers whose close links with the Mugen-Honda engine would cause his career to stutter as backmarker customer teams abandoned the pricier power unit for cheaper alternatives. His career was also damaged by being paired with Saturday specialist Jarno Trulli.

Shinji Nakano is another Japanese driver who found a home in American open-wheel racing after his Formula 1 exile.

Prost’s Shinji Nakano would only manage to qualify ahead of his teammate once in 1997, qualifying 0.014 ahead of Jarno Trulli at Monza, embarrassing the Italian in front of his home crowd. #f1 #f11997 #italiangp #monza pic.twitter.com/vaAFKVhQCO

— F1 1997 (@1997_f1) September 3, 2019

Kamui Kobayashi

Kamui made a name for himself right from his debut among Formula 1 drivers, holding off Jenson Button's Brawn for lap after lap around the tricky Interlagos circuit. While the Brit eventually did pass Kobayashi to seal the 2009 world championship, many took note of the battling drive.

Kamui scored a podium in front of his home crowd in 2012 but was still dropped by the cash-strapped Sauber team. Such was his reputation and popularity that he was able to crowdfund enough to get back into F1 for an additional season in 2014. Kamui Kobayashi subsequently switched to endurance racing, where he and the Toyota #7 team were world champions of 2019-2020.

Taki Inoue

Now a popular social media personality, Taki Inoue has a legitimate claim to be the worst driver ever to enter F1. The Japanese driver revels in his infamy and his self-deprecating wit have made him a star of Twitter.

Taki had a pair of tangles with course cars: in Monaco he was being towed out of harm's way in a practice session when a course car lost control and flipped the unfortunate Footwork driver; and in Hungary when his engine failed and he was rushing for an extinguisher when he was hit by the medical car.

Taki's five finishes from eighteen starts were all well out of contention for points, with some truly laughable performances. It's a good thing he has a sense of humor about it.