Kazuki Nakajima

is a Japanese motorsport executive and former racing driver, who competed in Formula One for Williams from to . In Japanese motorsport, Nakajima won the Super Formula Championship in 2012 and 2014 with TOM'S. In endurance racing, Nakajima won the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship, and is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he won consecutively from to , all with Toyota. Since 2022, Nakajima has served as vice-chairman of Toyota in WEC, winning three consecutive World Manufacturers' Championship titles from 2022 to 2024.

Racing career

Before Formula One Kazuki Nakajima was born on 11 January 1985 in Okazaki, Aichi, Japan. Nakajima is the son of the retired Formula One driver Satoru Nakajima. His younger brother, Daisuke, is also a racing driver. Nakajima started his career in racing in 1996, when he started karting. Three years later, he was crowned the Suzuka Formula ICA karting champion. After some impressive performances, Nakajima was picked up by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota as part of the corporation's Young Drivers Program.

Nakajima's father had been backed by Toyota's arch-rivals Honda through his career. Nakajima hoped that by joining Toyota he would shield himself against any accusations that his father had promoted his career.

In 2002, Nakajima won a scholarship in Formula Toyota, which he became champion in a year later. He progressed onto Japanese Formula Three in 2004, winning two of the 20 races and finishing fifth in the Drivers' Championship.

Nakajima stayed in Japanese Formula Three for 2005, finishing second. He dovetailed that championship with appearances in the Japanese GT300 sports car series, where he ended the year eighth. Nakajima's debut in a Formula One car came at Fuji Speedway during November 2006, where he completed four demonstration laps in wet conditions.

Nakajima raced in the GP2 series in 2007 for the DAMS team alongside French 2005–06 A1 Grand Prix winner Nicolas Lapierre. Nakajima also served as Williams' test driver, completing 7,000 km of testing for the team.

Nakajima's first year in GP2 finished with no wins, but five consecutive podiums and ended the year as top rookie. Nakajima's fifth in the championship put him comfortably ahead of Lapierre. Nakajima was found to have caused a collision in Istanbul, when he hit leader Karun Chandhok during the sprint race, and was given a drive-through penalty.

Formula One Nakajima driving in the rainy first free practice session during the 2007 Brazilian GP. His father Satoru also made his Formula One debut at the Brazilian GP in 1987.

It was announced on 9 October 2007 that following the retirement of Alexander Wurz, Nakajima would race for Williams in the season finale in Brazil. Nakajima finished tenth in the race, setting the fifth fastest lap – quicker than his teammate Nico Rosberg, who finished fourth.

Nakajima driving for Williams at the 2008 French Grand Prix.

At his first pit stop, Nakajima overshot his box and hit two of his mechanics. The mechanics were taken to hospital for precautionary checks. Nakajima apologised for the error: "First of all I would say I'm really sorry that some of my mechanics were injured during my pitstop and that I hope they're OK. It was a good first race for me but it was slightly overshadowed."

Patrick Head commented: "Kazuki drove well on his debut. His lap times were impressive and he's set a marker for a future in Formula One. Some of our mechanics were injured today, they're having some checks done now and we send our best wishes to them."

On 7 November, it was confirmed by Williams that Nakajima would partner Rosberg at the Williams team for the 2008 season. He had a successful start to 2008 at the Australian Grand Prix, finishing seventh but promoted to sixth after Rubens Barrichello was disqualified, even whilst knocking Robert Kubica out of the race and being penalised. He then finished seventh in the Spanish Grand Prix, having outqualified his teammate. A first-corner incident with Giancarlo Fisichella at Istanbul forced him to retire. Nakajima scored two points at Monaco where no Japanese Formula One driver had previously scored a point, and retired from the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix after hitting the pit wall when pitting for a new front wing. Nakajima scored another point at the 2008 British Grand Prix, after losing seventh place on the last lap. In Singapore, Nakajima made it to the third qualifying round for the first time qualifying tenth on the grid. He went on to finish eighth and scored a point.

Nakajima driving for Williams at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.

Nakajima was retained by Williams for the 2009 season. At the 2009 Australian Grand Prix he crashed into the wall at turn six, putting him out of the race. Nakajima was the only driver to retire at Bahrain, stopping five laps before the end with overheated oil. He also crashed on the penultimate lap of the Monaco Grand Prix whilst running in 10th place. He came close to scoring at several Grands Prix, including losing a points finish after being delayed in the pit lane at the Turkish Grand Prix. At the British Grand Prix, Nakajima secured his highest ever Formula One grid slot, qualifying in an impressive fifth place ahead of world championship leader Jenson Button. However, his race was compromised by poor pit strategy, and he eventually finished outside the points. Nakajima once again nearly scored at the Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing just 0.7 seconds behind eighth place Jarno Trulli. He finished ninth again in Singapore. At Brazil Nakajima was once again in contention for points until being taken out by rookie and fellow countryman Kamui Kobayashi. Nakajima finished the season having scored no points, with his teammate Nico Rosberg being single-handedly responsible for every championship point scored by the Williams team, with Nakajima being the only non points scorer out of the drivers who took part in each race in 2009.

Williams signed Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hülkenberg for 2010, leaving Nakajima without a seat. However, in January, reports tied Nakajima to team Stefan GP, which had consolidated remnants of the Toyota F1 team after the Japanese manufacturer's withdrawal from the sport in late 2009. Stefan duly confirmed on 19 February 2010 that Nakajima was one of the team's drivers, although the team did not have an entry to the 2010 Formula One season. The FIA subsequently ruled that Stefan GP could not be entered for the season at such a late stage, so Nakajima was left with no drive in Formula One for 2010.

Formula Nippon / Super Formula

After a successful test in late 2010, Nakajima moved back to the Japanese racing scene by competing in Formula Nippon for 2011. Driving for the TOM'S team, he won his first race at the second round of the season, held at Autopolis, which also moved him into the lead of the drivers' standings. He ultimately finished runner-up to André Lotterer. He continued in the series for the 2012 season winning the title. In the 2013 season, he could not defend his Super Formula title finishing fourth overall. However, in the 2014 season, he regained the title with his Petronas Team TOM'S team. In the 2015 season, he ended up second overall.

Nakajima's younger brother, Daisuke, competed in the series until 2017.

Super GT

Nakajima first competed in the Japanese Super GT series in 2005, driving a Toyota MR-S in the GT300 class with Minoru Tanaka. He returned to the category in 2011, driving a Lexus SC430 in the GT500 class with Formula Nippon rival Lotterer. For 2012, he continued to drive a SC430, now partnered with Loïc Duval. In 2013, he partnered with James Rossiter, scoring two wins and a third-place finish to rank third in the drivers standings. In 2014, he drove a Lexus RC F with Rossiter, winning two races.

Nakajima returned to the Japanese Super GT in 2017 with a TOM's Lexus LC.

FIA World Endurance Championship

In 2012, Nakajima was selected by Toyota to be one of the drivers for its assault on the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and the FIA World Endurance Championship, driving the prototype Toyota TS030 Hybrid. At Le Mans, he hit the Nissan DeltaWing hard enough to knock it off the circuit, causing substantial damage to the Nissan, and significant damage to his own car — neither car finished the race. He finished runner-up at the 2012 6 Hours of Silverstone. At the 2012 6 Hours of Fuji, Nakajima took pole position for Toyota before triple stinting in the race to bring home the TS030's second win in competition and Nakajima's first with the team.

Nakajima continued as Toyota LMP1 part-time driver the next two seasons. He won the 2013 6 Hours of Fuji, a race cancelled with no laps under green flag. In 2014, he finished second at Silverstone, Fuji and Shanghai.

Nakajima became a Toyota LMP1 full-time driver for the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, scoring a third place at Silverstone as best result. In 2016, he scored a third-place finish at Shanghai.

Nakajima began the 2017 season with two wins at Silverstone and Spa.

Nakajima won the 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours race in the No. 8 Toyota, along with Fernando Alonso and Sébastian Buemi.

Nakajima, Buemi and Alonso then repeated the achievement in 2019, at the same time clinching the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship, making Nakajima the second Japanese FIA world champion after Toshi Arai.

Nakajima retired from racing after the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship to take on the role of vice-chairman at Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, with Ryō Hirakawa taking over his seat.

Racing record

Career summary ‡ Team standings

Complete Macau Grand Prix results Year Team Car Qualifying Quali Race Main race 2004 TOM'S Dallara F304 9th DNF 13th 2005 TOM'S Dallara F305 8th 7th 5th 2006 Manor Motorsport Dallara F305 8th 8th DNF

Complete Japanese Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Pts 2004 TOM'S Toyota SUZ1 SUZ2 TSU1 TSU2 OKA1 OKA2 MOT1 MOT2 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUG1 SUG2 MIN1 MIN2 SEN1 SEN2 MIN1 MIN2 MOT1 MOT2 5th 138 2005 TOM'S Toyota MOT1 MOT2 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUG1 SUG2 FUJ1 FUJ2 OKA1 OKA2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 FUJ1 FUJ2 MIN1 MIN2 MOT1 MOT2 2nd 209

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points 2006 Manor Motorsport Dallara F305/062 Mercedes HOC1 HOC2 LAU1 LAU2 OSC1 OSC2 BRH1 BRH2 NOR1 NOR2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 CAT1 CAT2 BUG1 BUG2 HOC1 HOC2 7th 36

Complete GP2 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2007 DAMS BHRFEA BHRSPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MAGFEA MAGSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR MNZFEA MNZSPR SPAFEA SPASPR VALFEA VALSPR 5th 44

Complete Formula One results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 WDC Points 2007 AT&T Williams Williams FW29 Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8 AUS MAL BHR ESP MON CAN USA FRA GBR EUR HUN TUR ITA BEL JPN CHN BRA 22nd 0 2008 AT&T Williams Williams FW30 Toyota RVX-08 2.4 V8 AUS MAL BHR ESP TUR MON CAN FRA GBR GER HUN EUR BEL ITA SIN JPN CHN BRA 15th 9 2009 AT&T Williams Williams FW31 Toyota RVX-09 2.4 V8 AUS MAL CHN BHR ESP MON15† TUR GBR GER HUN EUR18† BEL ITA SIN JPN BRA ABU 20th 0 † Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete Super GT results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete Formula Nippon/Super Formula results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points 2011 Petronas Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ AUT FUJ MOT SUZ SUG MOT MOT 2nd 42 2012 Petronas Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ MOT AUT FUJ MOT SUG SUZ SUZ 1st 46 2013 Petronas Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ AUT FUJ MOT SUG SUZ SUZ 4th 24 2014 Petronas Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ FUJ FUJ FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 1st 46 2015 Petronas Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ OKA FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 2nd 45.5 2016 Vantelin Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ OKA FUJ MOT OKA OKA SUG SUZ SUZ 6th 22 2017 Vantelin Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ OKA OKA FUJ MOT AUT SUG SUZ SUZ 5th 22 2018 Vantelin Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 6th 15 2019 Vantelin Team TOM'S Toyota SUZ AUT SUG FUJ MOT OKA SUZ 12th 12 2020 Vantelin Team TOM'S Toyota MOT OKA SUG AUT SUZ SUZ FUJ 11th 25 2021 Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S Toyota FUJ SUZ AUT SUG MOT MOT SUZ 16th 4

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2012 Toyota Racing Nicolas Lapierre Alexander Wurz Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 134 DNF DNF 2013 Toyota Racing Nicolas Lapierre Alexander Wurz Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 341 4th 4th 2014 Toyota Racing Stéphane Sarrazin Alexander Wurz Toyota TS040 Hybrid LMP1-H 219 DNF DNF 2015 Toyota Racing Sébastien Buemi Anthony Davidson Toyota TS040 Hybrid LMP1 386 8th 8th 2016 Toyota Gazoo Racing Sébastien Buemi Anthony Davidson Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 384 NC NC 2017 Toyota Gazoo Racing Sébastien Buemi Anthony Davidson Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 358 8th 2nd 2018 Toyota Gazoo Racing Fernando Alonso Sébastien Buemi Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 388 1st 1st 2019 Toyota Gazoo Racing Fernando Alonso Sébastien Buemi Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 385 1st 1st 2020 Toyota Gazoo Racing Brendon Hartley Sébastien Buemi Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 387 1st 1st 2021 Toyota Gazoo Racing Brendon Hartley Sébastien Buemi Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar 369 2nd 2nd

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points 2012 Toyota Racing LMP1 Toyota TS030 Hybrid Toyota 3.4 L V8 (Hybrid) SEB SPA LMS SIL SÃO BHR FUJ SHA 13th 44 2013 Toyota Racing LMP1 Toyota TS030 Hybrid Toyota 3.4 L V8 (Hybrid) SIL SPA LMS SÃO COA FUJ SHA BHR 12th 37.5 2014 Toyota Racing LMP1 Toyota TS040 Hybrid Toyota 3.7 L V8 (Hybrid) SIL SPA LMS COA FUJ SHA BHR SÃO 8th 71 2015 Toyota Racing LMP1 Toyota TS040 Hybrid Toyota 3.7 L V8 (Hybrid) SIL SPA LMS NÜR COA FUJ SHA BHR 7th 75 2016 Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 Toyota TS050 Hybrid Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid) SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 8th 60 2017 Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 Toyota TS050 Hybrid Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid) SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 2nd 183 2018–19 Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 Toyota TS050 Hybrid Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid) SPA LMS SIL FUJ SHASEB SPA LMS 1st 198 2019–20 Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 Toyota TS050 Hybrid Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid) SIL FUJ SHA BHR COA SPA LMS BHR 2nd 202 2021 Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar Toyota GR010 Hybrid Toyota 3.5 L Turbo V6 (Hybrid) SPA ALG MNZ LMS BHR BHR 2nd 168