[Q&A] Kazuki Nakajima on the Toyota "competition" for F1 race seat
Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe's vice-chairman discusses how the marque's European-based Japanese drivers are faring... (Photos: Alpine, Toyota/Dutch Photo Agency)
There’s no doubt about it: now is about a good time as any to be a Toyota-affiliated driver with aspirations of racing in Formula 1.
Over the past 18 months, opportunities for the Japanese auto giant’s drivers to race in Europe and otherwise be involved in the F1 paddock have been increasing. Toyota World Endurance Championship star Ryo Hirakawa was named a McLaren development driver in 2023, and has since driven past and current F1 machinery for the Woking team as well as Haas and Alpine; Ritomo Miyata has been plying his trade in Formula 2 since last year; and more recently, Jin Nakamura has been chosen as the first true ‘young’ Toyota driver to head to Europe since the mid-2000s.
Hirakawa in particular has been in the headlines recently as he made the move from Alpine to Haas, taking on free practice duties in back-to-back grands prix at Suzuka (pictured top) and then Bahrain. Miyata, despite having a difficult time in F2 so far, has also been at the wheel of F1 machinery, appearing in a private test with Haas at Jerez in January, and then, more recently, driving an old Alpine at Zandvoort.
And then there’s Nakamura, who spent the early part of the year in the Formula Regional Middle East Championship, winning a race in Dubai (albeit in a reverse-grid race), and kicked off his primary campaign in the European equivalent earlier this month at Misano before moving on to Spa last weekend for the second round.
The momentum behind a Toyota F1 driver stepping up to a race seat in F1 at some point in the next few years appears to be gathering. But who will get the nod?
In this interview, Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe vice-chairman Kazuki Nakajima, an ex-F1 racer in his own right, shares his thoughts on Miyata’s struggles in F2, the ‘competition’ between he and Hirakawa, and Nakamura’s progress so far.