Satoru 1987(lotus) and Sato 2004(BAR Honda).
Satoru 1987(lotus) and Sato 2004(BAR Honda).
:chairfall
I'm not saying Japanese drivers are all crap because they are Japanese, but statistically, they are all crap. The Prince of Siam probably had more podiums than the whole of Japan combined in F1 and believe me, the Prince of Siam did race in F1 
That one season when BAR actually had a fast car, Sato was the most entertaining driver on the grid.
Watching Kobayashi drive at Interlagos I did wonder if he'd got some of that Sato single-mindedness in him. Need to see him in a quicker car to find out though.
Lotus sucked in 87, outright, only Senna manage to did some magic with it.
2004.....well everybody sucked except Ferrari! BAR was just merely the best of the rest (who all messed up).
Well you said that,Statistically.
Statistically Nakajima is a better driver than Kobayashi in junior formula as well, but guess who's laughing.
Some drivers are very capable but their racing career just doesn't work out for them, like Stefano Modena is pretty dismissable statistically but when you see him drive, you know you are looking at some rare talent.
If Nakajima was half decent he would of got more then 7 points, the Lotus was capable of wins and consistant podiums regardless if Senna was the one who drove it, he should of atleast managed 1 podium or consistant points finishes.
Doesn't mean anything, Sato still scored less then half of what Button did in the same car, not impressive by any means(It was 10 podiums to 1).
The year after that it was even worse with 37 points to Satos 1.
This also proves a point I made quite a few topics back that previous Results in other series means little to nothing as an F1 car is a completely different animal.
But what we all agree with is that Kamui Kobayashi has the definate potential to be the most successful Japanese Formula 1 driver in history.
But so does every new Japanese driver after two races. As does every driver of every nationality (for their own nation) after two races.
He went quite well in his two races and showed a lot of spirit. But so did Sato. Indeed, Sato should still be in F1 in terms of pace and spirit.
He went quite well in his two races and showed a lot of spirit. But so did Sato. Indeed, Sato should still be in F1 in terms of pace and spirit.
He scored more points in 2 races than Nakajima has in his whole 2009 season. So don't generalize like that, being pedantic like that only means you are only too realistic. Of course what you say is correct because it's logic, but after two races you honestly thought Tora Takagi had potential? Sorry.
nah, Senna did magic with it,the car was not actually race winning material.
And don't forget they only use to give points for the top six, getting points were quite a bit harder, not to mention the Lotus weren't exactly reliable.
are we looking at the same statistics?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1 ... mpionship_final_standings
granted the ret doesnt specify why the car retired but just looking at the amount of purple apart from the williams the lotus seems to have been one of the most if not the most reliable car of the year
thats an average of 4 retirements which by the standards of the time is pretty darn reliable
also since it was the most successful season nakajima had in f1 and even if you consider that senna was a good bit better than the average f1 driver the lotus cant have been that bad
I dont think Aguri Suzuki or Takuma Sato was crap.
Well no he scored 8 points and came close with 4ths but he never went on the podium. In fact, didn't Aguri Suzuki get a podium?
You've got to be freaking joking.
Kenjiro Shinozuka and Hiroshi Masuoka have won the Dakar rally three times between them. Nobuhiro Tajima is the current Pikes Peak unlimited class record holder. Toshi Arai won the Production WRC championship twice. Tetsuya Harada and Daijiro Kato were MotoGP 250cc champions; Kazuto Sakata and Haruchika Aoki 125cc champions. Seiji Ara and Masanori Sekiya were Le Mans 24 Hours winners.
...and that's just from 5 minutes worth of Googling.
Motorsport doesn't start and stop with just F1. Nor is it limited to only Europe.
I've heard of the MotoGP riders before, RIP Norik Abe
but in Formula 1 they just haven't sliced the cake, Toshi Arai I've also heard of but Production WRC isn't top class IMO most of the drivers don't make it to WRC (though Arai did) and the rest of the drivers you've listed I've never heard of F1's pretty Eurocentric actually. And even within Europe they are pretty Western. Have you heard of Russian, Ukrainian, or Lithuanian drivers doing well in F1? Kubica is the only exception and he's recent.
What about China? Denmark? Norway? Middle East?
Doesnt mean that these nations are devoid of racing talent. They just havent done well in F1 or havent had the chance. While F1 is labeled as the "pinnicle" of motorsports, it is hardly the only motorsports worthy of consideration. Motorsports have too many categories and too many disciplines to have only one series be deemed the master of racing.
I will be bitterly disappointed if Kobayashi isn't signed with atleast a decent team next year
Hopefully he'll be picked up by a works team somewhere. He obviously doesn't have a budget for anything, but I think he's proven that he might be a worthwhile investment for a works drive.
Perhaps he could find somewhere to race in one of the Le Mans series or the Japanese Super GT, if not an F1 seat.
Perhaps he could find somewhere to race in one of the Le Mans series or the Japanese Super GT, if not an F1 seat.
There should be a rule in the concorde agreement that one team has to give Sato a drive every season, he's more fun than a big bucket of sluts.
Since when did one keep sluts in buckets? 
I used to have a box full of them but I keep my slags in there now.
Middle East - Narain Kartikeyan (who wasn't good in F1)
Denmark - Jan Magnusson (who wasn't good in F1)
China - There was a guy in A1 GP but don't remember his name
Norway - The most famous Norwegian race driver is Martin Schanche and he was crazy and crashed alot.
And for the record Kubica is Polish, not Lithuanian, Ukrainian or Russian.
1. Karthikeyan is Asian. Indians are asians.
2. Yeh, they weren't good in F1. My point exactly. There hasnt been successful drivers from any of those countries. Doesnt necessarily mean that those countries are devoid of racing talent. (like Japan)
3. I know Kubica is Polish. But he's also Eastern European (which indudes Poland, Russian, Lituanaians, etc). I said that F1 is pretty western European centric with the excpetion of Kubica
Please read more carefully.....
Firstly Kubica moved to Italy at a young age so was a product of 'Western European' motorsport.
We will see Russian Formula 1 drivers in the next couple of years. You only have to look at karting to see the future of F1. A young (and very wealth) Daniil Kvyat is looking very promising. 90% of motorsport is based in Europe. tracks/teams/competition is all here. But drivers only become world class if they race here at a young age.
The middle east is also investing quite a lot of money in young drivers too. China hasn't so much.
2009 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
(233 posts, started )
FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG