My dad, Satoru Nakajima, was a former Lotus and Tyrrell F1 driver and he was my main inspiration to enter the world of racing. I still have an old photo of me when I was about 3 years old, by a race track and wearing a racing suit - so you could say that racing is something that I wanted to do from a very young age!
LIFE AS AN F1 DRIVER
It’s a dream come true for me to be racing in Formula 1 for the Williams F1 team, and especially in a fantastic and challenging street circuit in Singapore. To always perform at my best in every race, it’s important for me to maintain a healthy diet and always exercise so that I can stay alert, mentally strong and focused during the race. My favourite forms of exercise are weights training and running.
I was racing in Japan for most of the early part of my career, before joining the Williams F1 team, and I currently live in Oxford, England, as that is where we are based. I can say that it’s been a very enriching learning curve for me in my racing career to be working with and learning from my European team members, and understand more about Western styles of management and motivation methods.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD F1 DRIVER
As in any profession, it’s the desire to improve oneself that makes us good at what we do, and being an F1 driver is no different. Some of the qualities that I believe make a good F1 driver are –
Hardworking to perfect one’s driving techniques
Good communication skills to interact with his team of mechanics and engineers
Desire to enrich his technical knowledge about the race car
Burning passion for success and winning races
KAZUKI NAKAJIMA
Date and place of birth: 11th January 1985, Aichi, Japan
2007: Test driver for the AT&T Williams Team, Friday driver in Melbourne, Sepang, Montreal, Indianapolis, Shanghai Formula One debut at the Brazilian GP GP2 with DAMS, 5th in Championship, Rookie of the Year, 44 points, 5 podiums
2008: FIA Formula One World Championship with the AT&T Williams team
2009: FIA Formula One World Championship with the AT&T Williams team
CAREER ADVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
I think it’s useful to start finding out when you are young what your strengths and interests are, and work on developing your skills and talent in that particular area. Also, persevere in whatever you choose to do and don’t give up easily. I’ll share with you an example from my own life – when I was 16 years old, I applied for a Toyota racing scholarship, but didn’t get it. I didn’t give up and instead worked harder on improving myself and applied again the next year. I got it on my 2nd try.
