Nakajima

Kazuki Nakajima was born on January 11, 1985, in Okazaki, Japan, into a family already deeply rooted in motorsport. His father, Satoru Nakajima, was Japan’s first full-time Formula 1 driver and a veteran of 74 Grands Prix. Kazuki began karting in 1996 at age eleven. In 2002, he won a scholarship from the Toyota Formula School, and the following year he claimed the Formula Toyota title. He moved into Japanese Formula 3 in 2004 with TOM'S, winning two races in his debut season and finishing fifth in the championship. In 2005, he improved to second overall, behind João Paulo de Oliveira, and also placed fifth at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix. That same year, he raced in Super GT, driving a Toyota MR-S to one victory and eighth in the standings. In 2006, Nakajima joined Toyota’s young driver program and competed in the Formula 3 Euro Series in Europe, finishing seventh. His path to F1 was secured by Toyota’s engine supply deal with Williams, which signed him as a test driver while he also raced in GP2 Series, where he finished fifth overall and was named Rookie of the Year.

The path to Formula 1 for Kazuki Nakajima began not in Europe, but on the karting tracks of Japan in 1996. Six years later, he won the Toyota Formula School scholarship, a program designed to funnel talent directly into the manufacturer’s pipeline, and promptly took the 2003 Formula Toyota title. He moved to Japanese Formula 3 in 2004 with TOM’s, winning two races in his debut weekend and finishing fifth in the championship. A second-place campaign in 2005, behind João Paulo de Oliveira, was paired with a Super GT victory in a Toyota MR-S.

Toyota then sent him to Europe for the 2006 Formula 3 Euro Series, where he placed seventh. But the critical break came from Toyota’s engine supply deal with Williams. Nakajima signed as the team’s third driver for 2007 while simultaneously racing a full GP2 season. He finished fifth overall, took five podiums and a pole position, and was named the series’ rookie of the year. That performance, combined with the corporate link, earned him a race seat at Williams for 2008.

Nakajima’s Formula One career spanned three seasons, all with Williams, a team then powered by Toyota engines. He made his debut at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, replacing Alexander Wurz for the season finale. His first full season, 2008, yielded a best finish of sixth place at the Australian Grand Prix, but points were scarce: he scored nine across the year, placing 15th in the championship. The 2009 season proved more difficult. Williams struggled with the FW31’s performance, and Nakajima managed only seven points, with a seventh-place finish in Singapore as his best result. Over 36 Grands Prix, he failed to reach the podium or take a pole position. He was dropped by Williams at the end of 2009, replaced by Nico Hülkenberg. His F1 career closed with zero wins, zero podiums, and zero fastest laps, a statistical line that reflects the limits of the machinery and the fierce competition of the era.

Kazuki Nakajima’s peak period did not occur in Formula 1, where he started 36 races without a podium, win, or pole. His most dominant seasons came later, in Japanese single-seaters and endurance racing. Between 2012 and 2014, driving for TOM’S, he won the Super Formula Championship twice—in 2012 and again in 2014. In the FIA World Endurance Championship, he claimed the drivers’ title in the 2018–19 season and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three consecutive times, from 2018 through 2020, all with Toyota. These three Le Mans victories, paired with a world endurance title, form the clearest statistical peak of his career. After retiring from driving, he moved into management, becoming vice-chairman of Toyota in WEC in 2022 and helping the manufacturer win three straight World Manufacturers’ Championship titles from 2022 to 2024.

The son of Satoru Nakajima, the first Japanese driver to score points in Formula 1, Kazuki grew up in a household where racing was a family trade. His younger brother, Daisuke, also became a racing driver, competing in Super GT and Super Formula. Born in Okazaki, Japan, on January 11, 1985, Kazuki’s path was shaped by this lineage, though he has kept his personal life largely out of the public eye. Following his F1 career, he settled in Europe, working his way up within Toyota’s endurance racing structure. He is now a vice-chairman at Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH, based in Cologne, Germany, where he oversees the team’s World Endurance Championship program. His public persona is reserved and professional, a reflection of the corporate leadership role he has built since retiring from driving.

After his final Formula One race in Abu Dhabi in 2009, Nakajima returned to Japan and rebuilt a career that would eclipse his time in F1. He joined Toyota’s factory program in Super GT and Super Formula, winning the latter championship in 2012 and again in 2014 with the TOM’S team. His focus shifted to endurance racing, where he became a central figure in Toyota’s World Endurance Championship campaign. Nakajima won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times consecutively—2018, 2019, and 2020—and claimed the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship title. In 2022, he moved from the cockpit to the boardroom, becoming vice-chairman of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH. In that executive role, he has overseen the team’s continued dominance, winning three straight World Manufacturers’ Championship titles from 2022 to 2024. Nakajima’s post-F1 career is a rare example of a driver who found far greater success outside the sport than within it.

Since 2022, Kazuki Nakajima has served as vice-chairman of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH, based in Cologne, Germany. In this executive role, he leads the team in the FIA World Endurance Championship, overseeing a program that has won three consecutive World Manufacturers’ Championship titles from 2022 to 2024. The position marks a full-circle transition for the 39-year-old Japanese driver, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times with Toyota as a driver before moving into management. He no longer competes regularly in top-level motorsport, but his presence in the WEC paddock remains constant, now from the timing stand rather than the cockpit.

Nakajima’s Formula 1 career yielded no wins, podiums, or poles across 36 starts for Williams, a statistical blank that would normally anchor a modest legacy. Yet his influence is measured not in Grand Prix trophies but in what followed. He became a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2018, 2019, 2020) and claimed the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship, all with Toyota. In Japanese domestic racing, he won the Super Formula Championship in 2012 and 2014 with TOM’S, establishing himself as one of the country’s most successful drivers of his generation. Since 2022, Nakajima has served as vice-chairman of Toyota in the World Endurance Championship, helping the manufacturer secure three consecutive World Manufacturers’ Championship titles from 2022 to 2024. His career arc–from a fruitless F1 stint to endurance racing royalty and then to executive leadership–offers an unusual template: a driver who found his peak after leaving the sport’s pinnacle, then helped shape the organization that defined it.