is a Japanese racing driver turned politician. He competed in 21
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
Grands Prix during the ,
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
and
2010 seasons.
Before Formula One
Yamamoto was born in
Toyohashi
is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 377,453 in 160,516 households and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . By area, Toyohashi was Aichi Prefecture's second-la ...
,
Aichi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...
. He began his racing career in 1994 at the
Suzuka Circuit
The , more famously known as the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka, Mie, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda, Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000.
Int ...
Racing School (
Karting
Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...
), and worked his way up through the ranks, to become the test/third driver for the
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
team for one weekend (
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
) during the
2005 Formula One season
The 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 59th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 56th FIA Formula One World Championship, contested over a then-record 19 Grands Prix. It commenced on 6 March 2005 and ended 16 Oc ...
.
Formula One
Super Aguri (2006)
On 8 June 2006, Sakon Yamamoto joined the
Super Aguri F1
Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, but operated from the former Arrows Grand Prix International, Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical ...
team as their
test driver
In motorsport it is common to have one or more test drivers who work with the mechanics to help develop the vehicle by testing new systems on the track.
In specific motorsports Formula One
In Formula One, the term third driver is used to designa ...
and third driver on grand prix weekends, helping
Takuma Sato
, nicknamed "Taku", is a Japanese professional racing driver. Sato is a two time winner of the Indianapolis 500, having won the event in 2017 and 2020. He was the first Asian driver to win the Indianapolis 500, and the twentieth driver to win th ...
and
Franck Montagny
Franck Montagny (born 5 January 1978) is a retired French professional racing driver. He briefly raced for the Super Aguri Formula One team in 2006.
Early career
Born in Feurs, Loire, Montagny started racing karts there in 1988, winning the cade ...
in Friday's free practice sessions. Yamamoto replaced Montagny in the second team car at the
German Grand Prix
The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...
in Hockenheim. He did not enjoy a particularly successful start to his career, however, with a mechanical failure and a stalled engine restricting him to a total of one lap in his first two races. He also damaged one of the team's new SA06 chassis in a crash during Free Practice at the German Grand Prix. He then spun out of his third Grand Prix in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, a disappointment after outqualifying Sato for the first time.
![Sakon Yamamoto 2006 Brazil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Sakon_Yamamoto_2006_Brazil.jpg)
At the
2006 Italian Grand Prix
The 2006 Italian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2006) was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 2006 at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. It was the fifteenth race of the 2006 Formula One season, and was w ...
, Yamamoto had a major effect on the championship after suffering a
tyre delamination during qualifying, which consigned him to last place on the grid. Later on in the session,
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
punctured a tyre on debris from this incident, an occurrence which would eventually result in the points leader being penalised for blocking
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...
and dropping from fifth to tenth on the grid. During the race, Yamamoto suffered hydraulic problems and had to start from the pit lane, eventually retiring when it became terminal.
At the
2006 Chinese Grand Prix, however, he finished for the first time, albeit four laps down in sixteenth place. After the race, his enjoyment was spoiled when
Nick Heidfeld
Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver.
Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...
admonished him for an incident on the last lap which had dropped the German from 4th to 7th place. However, Heidfeld had mistaken Yamamoto for Sato, the driver who caused the incident, and apologised for his mistake before the
2006 Japanese Grand Prix
The 2006 Japanese Grand Prix (formally known as the 2006 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One race held on 8 October 2006 at the Suzuka Circuit, in Suzuka, Japan. It was the seventeenth and penultimate round of the 200 ...
.
Yamamoto finished the season strongly with three consecutive finishes, an upturn in form after retiring from his first four Grands Prix. He also set the seventh fastest lap and second fastest middle sector during the
2006 Brazilian Grand Prix
The 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio do Brasil 2006) was a Formula One motor race held on 22 October 2006 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo. It was the eighteenth and final race of the 2006 FIA Form ...
. However, this was not enough to prevent him losing out to
Anthony Davidson
Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver, currently working as an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel, as part of the commentary team for WEC TV, as colour commentator for the F1 series of vid ...
in the race for the second Super Aguri race drive in 2007. However, he remained as a test driver at
Super Aguri
Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire, England. T ...
. This was combined with him competing in the
2007 GP2 Series season
The 2007 GP2 Series season was the forty-first season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also third season under the GP2 Series moniker. The series began on 14 April at Bahrain. Timo Glock was crowned series champion on 30 ...
with
BCN Competicion
Ocean Racing Technology (ORT) was a racing team that took part in both the GP2 Main Series and the GP2 Asia Series Championships. The team, owned by Tiago Monteiro and José Guedes, was formed at the end of the 2008 season after being purchased f ...
.
Spyker (2007)
![Yamamoto 2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Yamamoto_2007.jpg)
With the departure of
Christijan Albers from the
Spyker F1
The Spyker F1 Team, known as the Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team for sponsorship reasons, was a Formula One team that competed in the 2007 Formula One season, 2007 Formula One World Championship with a List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationa ...
team after the
2007 British Grand Prix, a position on the grid became available. On 26 July 2007, after
Markus Winkelhock
Markus Winkelhock (born 13 June 1980) is a German professional racing driver. He is the son of Manfred Winkelhock and nephew of Joachim Winkelhock, both of whom were Formula One drivers in the 1980s. During his brief Formula One career he led the ...
filled the seat at the eventful
2007 European Grand Prix
The 2007 European Grand Prix (formally the 2007 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany on 22 July 2007. It was the tenth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 60 ...
, Spyker confirmed that they hired Yamamoto from Super Aguri for the remainder of the
2007 Formula One season
The 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 61st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, which began on 18 March and ended on 21 October after seventeen events. The Drivers' Ch ...
by Spyker. During his first Grand Prix for Spyker at
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, he crashed out on lap 4. After that, he finished all the races in last position, except the
2007 Japanese Grand Prix
The 2007 Japanese Grand Prix (officially the 2007 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 30 September 2007 at the Fuji Speedway, Oyama, Shizuoka. The 67-lap race was the fifteenth round of the 2007 FIA ...
, where he finished ahead of
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian racing driver. He regularly competed in Formula One from 1997 to 2011, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault, Toyota, Lotus Racing and Team Lotus. His best result in the World Drivers' Cham ...
, and in the
2007 Brazilian Grand Prix where
Giancarlo Fisichella
Giancarlo Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian professional racing driver, also captain of the official ''Nazionale Piloti'' association football team (composed of the racing drivers). He has d ...
crashed into him on the first laps. After the season ended, Yamamoto did not participate in any other event for the team.
Renault (2008)
It was announced on 4 February 2008 that Yamamoto would be one of the test drivers for the
Renault F1 Team
The French automotive manufacturer Renault has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine ...
. According to the press release, he would only drive the car in public demonstrations and not in circuit tests, with
Lucas di Grassi
Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E World Championship for Mahindra Racing. He became the FIA Formula E Champion in 2016–2017, achieved three overall podium ...
and
Romain Grosjean
Romain David Jeremie Grosjean (; born 17 April 1986) is a Swiss-French professional racing driver, competing under the French flag in the NTT IndyCar Series, driving the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Autosport. Grosjean had previously spent nine ...
being announced as circuit test drivers at the launch of the
Renault R28
The Renault R28 is a Formula One racing car, with which Renault F1 contested the 2008 Formula One season. The chassis was designed by Bob Bell, James Allison, Tim Densham and Dino Toso with Pat Symonds overseeing the design and production of ...
.
Sanho Human Service sponsored Spyker F1 when Yamamoto was a driver, and it was announced at the R28 launch that Sanho Human Service would sponsor Renault in 2008.
Return to GP2 (2008–2009)
![Sakon_Yamamoto,_GP2_Asia_0809](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Sakon_Yamamoto%2C_GP2_Asia_0809.jpg)
Yamamoto made his return to the GP2 series halfway through the
2008 season, as the
ART Grand Prix
ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...
team elected to employ him in place of the underperforming
Luca Filippi
Luca Filippi (born 9 August 1985 in Savigliano, Italy) is an Italian auto racing driver. He competed in GP2 Series from 2006 to 2012, and the IndyCar Series from 2013 to 2016. In 2008 he was the official Honda Racing F1 test driver.
Career
Form ...
. Finishing 4th in the sprint race at
Hungaroring
The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone wan ...
, he scored his first ever points in any racing class outside Japan.
Yamamoto kept his seat at ART for the
2008–09 GP2 Asia Series where he was looking to emulate the success of Grosjean, who won the inaugural championship with the team. However, he was somewhat overshadowed by team-mates
Nico Hülkenberg
Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German professional racing driver who is scheduled to make a full-time racing return to Formula 1 with Haas F1 Team in 2023, after serving as a reserve driver for Aston Martin F1 Team for the yea ...
and
Pastor Maldonado
Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta (; born 9 March 1985) is a Venezuelan professional racing driver, who competed in Formula One for the Williams (2011–2013) and Lotus (2014–2015) teams and as a Pirelli test driver until 2017. Before entering ...
, but managed to finish 9th in the championship, with a podium at the opening race in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
.
HRT (2010)
![Sakon Yamamoto 2010 Japan 2nd Free Practice](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Sakon_Yamamoto_2010_Japan_2nd_Free_Practice.jpg)
On 17 April 2010 the
Hispania Racing
HRT Formula 1 Team, formerly known as Campos Meta 1 and Hispania Racing, was a Spanish Formula One team founded by former driver Adrián Campos. It was sold to José Ramón Carabante before its debut in 2010, and then to investment group ...
team announced that Yamamoto would become the test and reserve driver for the team, and that he would drive the car in free practice sessions over the course of the 2010 season, helping Hispania develop their car. He took part in his first practice session for the team at the where he set the slowest lap time of the session. On 8 July 2010 HRT team principal Colin Kolles announced that Yamamoto was to replace
Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna Lalli (, born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula One world champion. He is also the first man to win a race in every WEC class, and was the 2017 W ...
for the , where he qualified 24th and last, he went on to finish 20th and last, just behind his team-mate
Karun Chandhok
Karun Chandhok (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian racing driver and television presenter who last competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed for Hispania Racing in Formula One in . Before this, he drove in the ...
. Yamamoto replaced Chandhok at the , where he retired after 19 laps with an engine problem. He kept this seat for the ,
in which he was lapped by his team-mate Senna. At the , Yamamoto accelerated from the pits as a mechanic was fixing the radio connection to his helmet. His rear wing struck the mechanic resulting in him being taken to hospital where he stayed for 10 days before being discharged and returning home to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. He was replaced at the by test driver
Christian Klien
Christian Klien (born 7 February 1983) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. In total he has scored 14 points in Formula One. Klien currently competes full-time in the GT World Challenge Europe for JP Motorsport.
Racing career
Born ...
after reportedly suffering food poisoning. He returned at the following race in Japan, finishing in 16th place, albeit last of the 16 cars to make the flag. He bettered this result by coming 15th in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, but was again replaced by Klien for the final two races in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area.
...
.
Virgin (2011)
On 23 March 2011,
Marussia Marussia Motors (russian: Маруся ) was a Russian sports car company founded in 2007. It was the first Russian company to produce a supercar. It designed, and manufactured prototypes of both the B1 and the B2 sport cars. Marussia was led by for ...
Virgin Racing
Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a British licence and in with a Russian ...
announced that Yamamoto would be the team's reserve driver for the first three races of the season.
Later career
Formula E
Yamamoto was called in to replace
António Félix da Costa
António Maria de Mello Breyner Félix da Costa (born 31 August 1991) is a Portuguese professional racing driver for the Porsche Formula E Team and the 2019–20 Formula E Drivers' Champion.
He won the Macau Grand Prix invitational Formula Thr ...
for the
2015 London ePrix. He raced for
Amlin Aguri
Team Aguri, formerly Amlin Aguri and officially the Team Aguri Formula E Team, was an international motor racing team founded by former Formula One and 24 Hours of Le Mans driver Aguri Suzuki (Executive Chairman) and Mark Preston (Team Principal ...
, partnering
Salvador Duran
Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
. Round 10 saw Yamamoto qualify his car in 18th position but he retired from the race after a problem with the battery coming out of the pits. The next race saw him suffer a similar fate. He failed to set a time in qualifying after the tricky rain conditions caused him to hit the wall and then also retired from the race after running into the back of
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian racing driver. He regularly competed in Formula One from 1997 to 2011, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault, Toyota, Lotus Racing and Team Lotus. His best result in the World Drivers' Cham ...
. He finished the season with no points and 35th and last in the standings.
Super Formula Lights
Yamamoto entered the last round of the
2020 Super Formula Lights
The 2020 Super Formula Lights Championship was the first Super Formula Lights Championship season, after the Japanese Formula 3 Championship was rebranded following the end of the 2019 season. It was rebranded because of FIA nomenclature regulati ...
at Fuji for B-Max, scoring a best finish of 7th in the third race.
After racing
Yamamoto has not raced regularly since his Formula E outings, and has concentrated on a career in medicine and social welfare. In 2012 he became the head of a medical and social welfare corporation in Japan, with particular emphasis on improving the social welfare of the elderly. He also lectures and provides support to schools in the same field. He also still works in racing, in broadcasting and the media.
On 31 October 2021 he was elected to the Japanese House of Representatives.
Racing record
Career summary
‡ Team standings.
Complete Formula Three Euro Series results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete Formula Nippon results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
‡ Race stopped earlier due to heavy rain. Only half-points were awarded.
Complete Super GT results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula One results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
)
Complete GP2 Series results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete GP2 Asia Series results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
Complete Formula E results
(
key
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
References
External links
Sakon Yamamoto Official Website(Japanese)
at the Formula Nippon Official Website
Sakon Yamamoto profile and 2006 statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamamoto, Sakon
1982 births
Living people
People from Toyohashi
Members of the House of Representatives (Japan)
Liberal Democratic Party (Japan) politicians
Japanese sportsperson-politicians
Japanese racing drivers
Japanese Formula One drivers
Super Aguri Formula One drivers
Spyker Formula One drivers
HRT Formula One drivers
Formula Nippon drivers
GP2 Series drivers
Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers
British Formula Three Championship drivers
German Formula Three Championship drivers
Formula 3 Euro Series drivers
Super GT drivers
GP2 Asia Series drivers
ADAC GT Masters drivers
Formula E drivers
ART Grand Prix drivers
Team Aguri drivers
TOM'S drivers
Nismo drivers
Kondō Racing drivers
Team Rosberg drivers
Kolles Racing drivers
Rebellion Racing drivers
Target Racing drivers