Satoru Nakajima

Quick Facts

Full Name	Satoru Nakajima
Occupation	Driver
Date Of Birth	Feb 23, 1953(1953-02-23)
Age	71
Birthplace	Okazaki
Country	Japan
Birth City	Aichi
Horoscope	Aquarius

Satoru Nakajima Biography

Satoru Nakajima is one of the most popular and richest Driver who was born on February 23, 1953 in Okazaki, Aichi, Japan. Satoru Nakajima (Zhong Dao Wu , Nakajima Satoru, born 23 February 1953) is a former race driver in Japan. He has been five-time Japanese Top Formula champion and the first full-time Japanese Formula One driver. He was also one of the first Japanese F1 driver to score points in 1987 at the San Marino Grand Prix, which he won by finishing sixth in his only F1 race.

From 1988 to 1994 Nakajima was a sponsor of a variety of Formula One video games for different consoles, including Family Computer, Sega Mega Drive, Game Boy and Super Famicom. Nakajima also appeared as the playable driver for the Lotus 100T in Codemasters’ F1 2013.

1988 was another miserable year in F1 for both Nakajima and Lotus. In the final season for turbos and using the same V6 engines that propelled McLaren drivers Senna and Alain Prost to win 15 of the season’s 16 races, Nakajima scored only a single point during the season finishing sixth in the opening race in Brazil. He also failed to qualify the Lotus 100T at both Monaco and Detroit, the only times between its first race in 1983 and the end of the turbo era in 1988 that a Honda V6 turbo failed to qualify for any Grands Prix entered. Despite this, on occasions Nakajima was able to push his team mate, reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet who had replaced Senna.

Despite most believing he did not truly deserve to be in F1, Lotus showed faith in Nakajima when they re-signed him for 1989, even after Honda announced would not be supplying their engines to the team after the 1988 season. This left Nakajima and team-mate Piquet driving the Judd V8 powered Lotus 101. The pair had a very up-and-down season, with both failing to qualify for the 1989 Belgian Grand Prix, the first time in their 30-year history that Lotus had failed to make the grid, symbolically heralding the beginning of the end for the British team. A great upside to Nakajima’s 1989 was a fourth place and fastest lap in the rain-soaked Australian Grand Prix, scoring his only points of the year and also equaling his best career finish, from the 1987 British Grand Prix. Nakajima’s race in Adelaide, in which he was dead last at the end of the first lap after a spin soon after the start and only finished 4.648 seconds behind the 3rd placed Williams-Renault V10 of Riccardo Patrese, even drew praise from those who had criticised him in the past such as BBC television commentator and 1976 World Champion James Hunt.

Nakajima took part in the 80 Formula One Grands Prix, starting with the Brazilian Grand Prix on 12 April 1987. He brought Honda engines into Lotus. Lotus team. He was 34 at the time of his debut which makes him one of the Formula One’s oldest racers of the modern era. Nakajima finished in the sixth position and was awarded one point in just one race after his debut, 1987’s San Marino Grand Prix. In his first season, Nakajima was beaten by team mate Ayrton Senna. Many doubted Nakajima’s position in F1 and claimed that, if it weren’t for Honda the Japanese driver would not have made it to the podium due to merit.

Satoru Nakajima Net Worth

Satoru Nakajima is one of the richest Driver from Japan. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Satoru Nakajima 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

He started racing shortly after finishing school and getting his driver’s license. In 1973, he became an unexperienced driver racer in the Suzuka Circuit series, which was his first win. A few more years after, he took home the first time in Japanese Formula Two. In 1981, he won his very first race, the beginning of a dominance period throughout the championship. He took five of the following six championships. All of which were powered by the Honda V6 engine.

Honda had initially sought Nakajima to take over Nigel Mansell at Williams for the 1986 season (the Japanese company supplied their engines exclusively to Williams from 1984 to 1986). The problem was that Williams the owner Frank Williams was not willing to drop Mansell who had taken his first two wins at the close year 1985. Frank Williams, who was always more focused on the Constructors’ instead of driver’s’ Championship, thought that having the race winner Mansell and later a dual World Champion Nelson Piquet, would give the team the best chance to win getting the Constructors’ title as well as ensuring that the unknown (in F1) Nakajima would struggle (Williams was later proven to be right about this). Lotus were seeking an engine partner in 1987 since Renault had pulled out of the race in the year 1986. Lotus was willing to accept Nakajima to replace John Dumfries on the 2nd position in the deal to acquire a new engine from Honda.

Not normally the best of qualifiers or racers despite having equipment superior to most, including the same all-powerful Honda V6 turbo engine as the McLarens, Nakajima could have easily been excused for performing poorly at the 1988 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, if he chose to compete at all. Only 30 minutes before the start of the Friday morning’s practice session he was informed that his mother had died that morning (28 October). In the circumstances his effort in Saturday qualifying to equal his more illustrious team mate’s time right down to the thousandth of a second was exceptional. Piquet and Nakajima qualified 5th and 6th respectively, Piquet in front only for having set his time earlier in the last qualifying session. Nakajima was actually faster than the triple World Champion on the Friday, an effort that won the much-maligned Japanese driver new fans and much praise in the F1 paddock.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

Satoru Nakajima height Not available right now. Satoru weight Not Known & body measurements will update soon.

Who is Satoru Nakajima Dating?

According to our records, Satoru Nakajima is possibily single & has not been previously engaged. As of December 1, 2023, Satoru Nakajima’s is not dating anyone.

Relationships Record : We have no records of past relationships for Satoru Nakajima. You may help us to build the dating records for Satoru Nakajima!

Facts & Trivia

Satoru Ranked on the list of most popular Driver. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in Japan. Satoru Nakajima celebrates birthday on February 23 of every year.