TREMAYNE: Japanese drivers have a rich history in F1 – but can Yuki Tsunoda grab his chance and be the best of them all?

I never quite figured out Kazuki Nakijima’s motivation. Japan’s first second-generation driver, he was supported by Toyota where his father Satoru was a Honda man, and in 2008 as team mate to Nico Rosberg chez Williams, he scored a sixth, two sevenths and two eighths, but it was hard to know how much his heart was in it.

There was zero doubt about Kamui Kobayashi’s passion for F1. It’s always one of those things with drivers from certain parts of the world, most especially from Japan, that we see a newcomer and saddle them with the thought that they “could just be the best yet” from their particular birthplace.

LISTEN: Japanese hero Kamui Kobayashi on his racing career – and his part in Tsunoda’s rise to F1

Certainly, Kamui had to bear that moniker in his days with Sauber. He was a tough fighter, as Japanese drivers so often are, and like Suzuki and Sato, he would bring honour to his nation with a podium finish for Sauber in the 2012 Japanese GP.

He won Le Mans with Toyota in 2021, and two FIA World Endurance Championship titles in 2019-20 and 2021, and today manages Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe’s FIA WEC programme.