Currently a Williams-Toyota Formula One driver, Kazuki Nakajima was born in the Aichi province of Japan on the 11th of January 1985. Before he became a regular driver for the Williams-Toyota team, he drove for the DAMS team in GP2 and was also one of their test drivers. Like many other F1 drivers, Kazuki is the son of former F1 driver Satoru Nakajima.

Early Racing Career

He began carting in the year 1996 and won many championships along the way. The Toyota group of automobile manufacturers chose Nakajima to be a part of the group’s Young Drivers Program after witnessing some commendable performances from the man from Japan. Kazuki took this as an opportunity to hit back at any accusations about his father promoting his career since his father was backed all the way by Honda, Toyota’s fiercest rivals. In 2002, Kazuki joined the Formula Toyota series after winning a scholarship and went on to win the championship the next year. Nakajima then moved onto Japanese Formula 3 and came second in the year 2005. The F3 season was followed by some appearances in the GT300 sports car series of Japan wherein he finished eight.

Competitive Racing Career

His competitive racing career began in the Formula 3 Euro Series in the year 2006. Here, he competed against well known names like Sebastian Vettel and Paul di Resta. After his stint with F3, he began racing in GP2. His first season in GP2 was pretty impressive. Despite having no wins to his credit, he managed 5 consecutive podiums and was awarded the best rookie at the end of the season. His second year started off strongly thanks to grabbing second spot in the first race of the season and winning his first GP2 race in the 4th race. However, at the end of the season he finished in seventh place with thirty six points, 50 points behind championship winner Paul di Resta.

Formula 1

Kazuki Nakajima was then named one of the test drivers of the Williams Formula One team for the 2007 season. His debut in Formula One racing came in the November of 2006 at the Japanese Grand Prix where he successfully finished four laps in conditions that were wet.

He made his first fully competitive race in the final race of the 2007 season in Brazil after Alexander Wurz announced his retirement.

Summary

Born in Japan, Kazuki Nakajima, currently an F1 race driver for the Williams team began his racing career with karting and the Toyota Formula Series before progressing up the ranks by taking part in Formula 3, GT300, GP2 and finally Formula 1.