Photo: Super Formula

Formula Scout brought in full coverage of Super Formula this year as more junior single-seater graduates used the series as a way to F1. But it was series icon Naoki Yamamoto that finished first again – here’s how

The 2019 Super Formula season is probably remembered for three things, and in this order. 1) Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum’s three-race spell before he was sacked, 2) Nick Cassidy edging out Naoki Yamamoto to become champion after a year-long rivalry, and 3) Nakajima Racing become a force at the front once more after years of underachieving.

This year – the second with the halo-shod Dallara SF19 car – was expected to be similar, although the hopes were that Juri Vips would be using his time in Japan to get a Red Bull F1 seat rather than an F1 sacking, and after 2019’s star rookie Alex Palou left for IndyCar it would be Tadasuke Makino winning for the team of series legend and ex-F1 star Satoru Nakajima.

The competitive order would swing on the strengths of the Honda and Toyota powertrains too. Which was better at high-end performance, which one had better fuel consumption figures, and which one was less likely to go bang in a title run-in.

As the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, the pre-season predictions flew out of the window. Races were going to be shortened considerably, run without compulsory pitstops so the number of people in pitlane could be reduced – an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19 – and each round would fit qualifying and the race in on the same day, a la Formula E.

This reduced the reliance on fuel and tyre management, one of the F1-rivalling features of the series, but also arguably meant that qualifying and the races were going to be faster than ever. Especially so now that the teams understood the car.

Travel restrictions arising from the pandemic changed the look of the grid too before the first race, with Vips absent (and ultimately never even competing this year despite making it to Japan) as well as Red Bull reserve driver Sergio Sette Camara.

Two of the rookies hotly tipped for success, and fresh out of Formula 3 and Formula 2 respectively, were now gone, and their places were taken by two even less experienced drivers in Asian F3’s Ukyo Sasahara and Euroformula’s Teppei Natori.

With the tricky strategic elements of the championship now gone, it should have made the step up for rookies easier than usual. But it then put the onus on qualifying, and getting the most out of Yokohama’s soft compound tyre (after the medium compound was dropped for this year) was not something that came naturally to everyone.

What’s more, it pushed the Honda versus Toyota battle more onto which engine was better on full power in qualifying. Was single-lap pace going to primarily dictate the title picture?

Round one at Twin Ring Motegi suggested as such, with Toyota dominating qualifying and Team Impul’s Ryo Hirakawa winning from pole. There was barely any overtaking behind, with everyone of course on the same strategy besides the very inexperienced – like Sasahara – who had to pit because they were yet to understand how to make the tyres last a whole race.

The drivers had warned the race would be a bore, and after they were proven right the series made some tweaks to the rules that brought back pitstops and more importantly resulted in the remaining six races contributing to a thrilling season.

It was the Motegi weekend that was Yamamoto’s only dud one from a personal standpoint, as he qualified 14th and finished a lowly 13th in the searing 34°C heat a weekend where his Honda power had no hope of fighting up front. His race result was down to a rare but amateur error when trying to pass KCMG’s Kamui Kobayashi, as he ended up breaking his own front wing and giving Kobayashi a puncture.

But with two dropped scores being added into the rules as a response to many drivers facing the prospect of missing two races, it wasn’t going to impact Yamamoto’s title campaign. At every other circuit he was close to his usual brilliant best.

The breakout star of the first half of the season, while the Toyota-powered teams had a noticeable edge, was Hirakawa. After three races he had a staggering 15-point lead, following up his Motegi win with another pole at Okayama and a fourth place finish, then a straight run to second at Sportsland SUGO after being leapfrogged by late-stopper Cassidy.

It was Cassidy’s uncanny ability to make the tyres last the race duration, and getting more pace out of them beyond the point most drivers would be losing time by choosing not to pit, that kept him in title contention when his TOM’S team didn’t have the pace to fight for poles and therefore have a straightforward route to wins.

The only race in which he couldn’t play that card was obviously Motegi, but he used it as often as he could.

He pitted from the lead with two laps to go at Okayama, under the safety car in the first half of the Sugo race while already in the podium positions after qualifying fourth, and with four laps to go at Autopolis. Then in the first Suzuka race he and half of the field pitted in response to leader Yamamoto coming to a stop on track with engine issues, under the expectation that the safety car would come out at any moment. Suzuka’s second race was his to win before an engine failure, which required an older unit to go in for the Fuji Speedway finale. Once again, he took his tyres as long as possible there too.

This time his pitstop came after other title rival Tomoki Nojiri came to a stop on track with a wheel-related problem, and Cassidy sacrificed a half-minute lead to pit before a potential safety car wiped out that advantage anyway. He returned to track between Yamamoto and Hirakawa, and after his new set of tyres warmed up – on a track barely at 10°C surface temperature – he set off in pursuit of Yamamoto.

Once he caught up they engaged in a thrilling and potentially title-deciding battle – one they probably wouldn’t be allowed to get away with if they were racing in Europe such was it closeness and ferocity – and after clearing his rival Cassidy went pursuing the very close top three.

Had the race run one or two laps longer, Cassidy could very well have passed all three to win the race and the title. He didn’t manage it, but once again reminded the world of his brilliance and how entertaining Super Formula can be in the process.

Yamamoto held off Hirakawa to finish fifth, and claim his third title as a result. He is now the fourth driver to reach that milestone, after six-time champion and Impul boss Kazuyoshi Hoshino, five-time champion Nakajima and four-time champion Satoshi Motoyama, who was B-MAX’s team boss this year and also cameoed in Super Formula Lights.

The drivers contending for victory just two seconds up the road from Cassidy at Fuji were INGING’s Sho Tsuboi and Nakajima’s Toshiki Oyu.

Both drivers had a habit this year of finishing at the back or not at all, but the SF Lights graduates showed that the future of the championship is in safe hands with their breakthrough wins.

Tsuboi, who dominated the 2018 SF Lights season, usually struggled in qualifying – a carryover from his rookie season last year. When he did start near the front he had impressive race management skills though, and won at Autopolis from eighth on the grid before benefitting from Nojiri’s woes to add a second success at Fuji – the only driver to win twice this season.

Oyu was practically the opposite, with stunning single-lap speed that had him on average as the third best qualifier (behind only Yamamoto and TOM’S driver Kazuki Nakajima), but an inability to put things together in races. The rookie frequently crashed at first, but under the gaze of Takuma Sato at Suzuka – where he coaches at the racing school presided over by the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner – he went from zero to hero by winning race two after Cassidy’s engine failure.

The confidence boost from that drive, which has gone some way to ensuring Honda gives him a second season in the series, continued on to Fuji and he fought Tsuboi wheel-to-wheel for the win before settling for second. As a result he leapt up to sixth in the points, while Tsuboi came third ahead of Cassidy courtesy of the 2020 dropped scores rule.

Oyu’s team-mate Makino missed Fuji due to meningitis and came 12th in the points, one place up on Kondo Racing’s Sacha Fenestraz. The reigning SF Lights champion started his rookie season in incredible style by qualifying second and finishing third, but he was then involved in several crashes – at least one which Oyu was firmly to blame for – and he only completed five laps in the next three races. He was out after one lap again at Suzuka, but when he could finish he always scored and with impressive pace despite Kondo’s slide down the order. Fenestraz should probably have been top rookie.

Nobuharu Matsushita’s mid-season switch to SF boosted his confidence after the abrupt end to his F2 career, and he made the podium for the first time at Fuji after spending the whole race in what ended up being the lead trio. Old F2 rival Sette Camara eventually made his debut with B-MAX at Sugo and took pole after crashing in free practice. He was on for at least a podium in the race before also crashing straight after his pitstop, an embarrassing error more common than you think in Super Formula as tyre warmers were banned until the end of this season when temperatures nearly dropped to freezing.

Perhaps the most impressive young driver though was Ritomo Miyata. He entered two races as a substitute for Nakajima at TOM’S, and qualified second for the first of those at Okayama. A slow start and Oyu’s race-ending incident with Fenestraz occurring in front of him on the opening lap consigned him to a midfield finish, but ninth place was still impressive given he was also racing in SF Lights that weekend. He qualified seventh and finished eighth on his Autopolis return.

Miyata’s third season in SF Lights resulted in the title as expected, winning 10 of the 14 races. Most of the time he was just unbeatable in racing conditions, although B-MAX’s Sena Sakaguchi could match him in qualifying in the new Dallara 320, and the only blot on his record was an unforced error at Suzuka where he spun away a win and a 100% run of podiums.

There was little overtaking with the new F3-level car, and Miyata’s TOM’S team-mate Kazuto Kotaka picking up third in the points and a win at the Fuji season finale was an example of that as he simply drove around in front of his rivals knowing the dirty air he was creating was doing the defensive job for him.

Natori’s planned SF debut was called off by dehydration worries, and his time with Toda Racing in SF Lights wasn’t great either besides one pole and a couple of podiums. The international flavour of the grid was reduced to just Albirex Racing’s Lucca Allen, the reigning Formula 4 South East Asia champion, as travel restrictions prevented others from making the trip.

Formula Scout’s Top 5 Super Formula drivers

Key Percentage of team’s points scored (TP), Average qualifying position (QA), Average points per race (AP)

5. Kenta Yamashita JAPAN Kondo Racing
7th in standings, 34 points (1 podium) – TP 65%, QA 11.8, AP 5.7

Never spectacular, but probably the most mistake-free driver in the field in his fourth season at this level. Yamashita started the season on a high with a second place, and only made the top five once after that but in wake of Toyota’s early-season advantage disappearing and Kondo sliding down the competitive order. Along with Cassidy and Nojiri he was the only driver to score in six of the seven races, and that came after missing Okayama – when Kondo was still near the top – due to being in quarantine after the Le Mans 24 Hours.

4. Tomoki Nojiri JAPAN Team Mugen
5th in standings, 47 points (1 win, 2 poles, 1 podium) – TP 91%, QA 7.3, AP 6.1

Mugen hasn’t operationally been the tightest team since the Dallara SF19’s introduction, and team boss Shinji Nakano will admit that. Despite those issues, including slow pitstops once they were reintroduced, Nojiri put in not only his best individual race performances to date but also his most complete season. A warm-up issue at Suzuka led to him stalling on the formation lap and requiring him to start at the back rather than from second place, while the pitstop and then a secondary wheel problem undid his Fuji victory hopes from pole. He did win Autopolis from the front, but the points lost through no fault of his own prevented title success.

3. Ryo Hirakawa JAPAN Team Impul
2nd in standings, 60 points (1 win, 2 poles, 2 podiums) – TP 78%, QA 9.3, AP 7.4

At first, it looked like Hirakawa would romp to the title in a way rarely seen in SF. In reality, he was dealt another gut-wrenching title loss after finishing second in Japan’s Super GT sportscar series for the last three seasons – most often to none other than Yamamoto. The undoing of his season wasn’t really Hirakawa’s fault though, with technical issues putting him at the back of the grid more than once. He wasn’t able to turn being on the back foot into a solid haul of points like his main rivals could, and as a result his impressive end of season wasn’t enough to beat Yamashita.

2. Nick Cassidy NEW ZEALAND TOM’S
4th in standings, 50 points (1 win, 1 pole, 2 fastest laps, 2 podiums) – TP 64%, QA 9.3, AP 7.7

At first it didn’t look like Cassidy would race this year, with his attention already being piqued by challenges beyond Japan, but the lengthy lockdown period gave him time to focus on defending his title. His race pace and racecraft was simply sublime, putting in drives that no one else looked capable of other than Yamamoto, and his mastery of the soft compound tyre also went beyond expectations. He did take one pole, but otherwise didn’t have the key to unlocking the qualifying pace in his TOM’S-run car much of the time and that’s what cost him the title.

1. Naoki Yamamoto JAPAN Dandelion Racing
1st in standings, 62 points (1 win, 1 pole, 2 fastest laps, 3 podiums) – TP 67%, QA 6.0, AP 8.1

There are a lot of people who would love to see what Yamamoto would be capable of in F1, and after a season like this one it’s easy to see why. His understanding of what the tyres wanted from the driver straight out of the box was key to his qualifying form – the best of anyone’s besides the cameoing Sette Camara and Miyata – and he had more strategic manoeuvrability than his rivals courtesy of his ability of saving the best of his tyres until he had fresh air in front of him in races. His respectful yet intense rivalry with Cassidy, and Hirakawa, continued with some thrilling wheel-to-wheel battles that were always clean and usually involved Yamamoto coming out on top.

Further reading
How “worried” Nakajima had his faith in Oyu rewarded
10 outstanding Japanese drivers who never reached F1
What is Super Formula?

The post The factors behind Yamamoto’s third Super Formula title appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Super Formula

Enaam Ahmed drove for B-MAX Racing with Motopark on day one of Super Formula’s post-season Fuji Speedway rookie test, marking his first driving since leaving the FIA Formula 3 Championship.

After a race-winning campaign in SF’s supporting Super Formula Lights series with B-MAX in 2019, London-based Ahmed returned to Europe this year to race in FIA F3. His season only lasted three rounds before he left, and he has not raced since.

The 20-year-old was one of three drivers in action for B-MAX on the first day of the test, with team boss DRAGON and Formula Regional Japanese Championship racer Nobuhiro Imada also sampling the team’s cars.

The driver who set the pace was newly crowned three-time SF champion Naoki Yamamoto, who was driving for Nakajima Racing rather than his usual Dandelion Racing outfit.

His Tuesday morning benchmark of a 1m20.338s was 0.149 seconds faster than usual team-mate Nirei Fukuzumi’s afternoon best.

Besides the B-MAX crew, the other ‘rookies’ to take part in the test included new SF Lights champion Ritomo Miyata at TOM’S, who is all but guaranteed a full-time SF promotion next year after starring in his first two races in 2020, FRJC champion Sena Sakaguchi at INGING and SF Lights racer Shunsuke Kohno at ROOKIE Racing.

Miyata was fastest in the SF Lights test that ran alongside on Tuesday, heading Rn-sports’ Atsushi Miyake – the 2019 Japanese Formula 4 runner-up – by 0.142s.

B-MAX’s ex-Formula V8 3.5 racer Yu Kanamaru was third fastest, ahead of Kohno (RS Fine) and TOM’S-driving Toyota proteges Hibiki Taira, who is the new Japanese F4 champion, and Kazuto Kotaka.

Test results

The post Enaam Ahmed back in a single-seater in Super Formula rookie test appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Super Formula

Naoki Yamamoto prevailed in a four-way fight for the Super Formula title in a dramatic season finale at Fuji won by Sho Tsuboi.

Pre-race there was drama as Yuhi Sekiguchi’s car set on fire in the warm-up session, Charles Milesi spun off on the way to the grid and Tatiana Calderon stalled and had to start from the pits.

Title contender Tomoki Nojiri made a slow start from pole and Sho Tsuboi and Nobuharu Matsushita immediately moved into the top two positions, with points leader Yamamoto right behind Nojiri and title outsider Nick Cassidy rising from last to 12th on lap one.

Ryo Hirakawa, Yamamoto’s main title rival, passed Ukyo Sasahara on lap three to get behind Yamamoto and the order was set until the pitstops.

Nojiri was first to pit, but a lost wheelnut cost him several seconds. Hirakawa’s Impul team was next of the frontrunners to prepare for a stop, possibly in an attempt to lure Yamamoto into pitting, but the strategy didn’t work out and he ended up pitting on lap 14 of 40 with Yamamoto coming in a lap later.

Yamamoto didn’t lose too many places with his stop, but on cold tyres he was instantly passed by Toshiki Oyu and Nojiri. He emerged alongside Hirakawa and the pair ran side-by-side for several corners before Hirakawa’s warmer tyres enabled him to get through. The tussle continued though and Yamamoto used his fuel flow-based overtaking system to pass Hirakawa down the pit straight, but ran wide at the first corner and the pair were side-by-side again.

Hirakawa spent the rest of the lap jinking left and right trying to get past to no avail, and the title fight focus moved to the front as a few laps later Ukyo Sasahara pitted and Cassidy was left with a 24-second lead.

Cassidy got faster and faster on his tyres and stretched out his lead to 32s over Tsuboi and Matsushita before Nojiri’s car came to a halt on track and he had to pit in case a safety car interruption wiped out his advantage.

He emerged right between Yamamoto and Hirakawa, and as he defended from Hirakawa it allowed Yamamoto to break clear and for Sasahara to get onto Hirakawa’s tail.

Hirakawa stopped Sasahara from getting through, but that ended his hopes of passing Yamamoto in the closing laps, even after Cassidy cost the Dandelion Racing driver time in a thrilling battle to take fourth.

Cassidy was against fastest on track, and hunted down the top three who were all still fighting.

Oyu had passed Matsushita and tried to overtake Tsuboi for the lead with five laps to go. He failed, leaving Tsuboi to take his second win and third in the points from Cassidy on victory countback.

Yamamoto became a three-time champion by holding off Hirakawa for fifth place.

Race results (40 laps)

The post Tsuboi wins Fuji thriller as Yamamoto claims third Super Formula title appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Honda Racing

Team Mugen’s Tomoki Nojiri claimed pole for the Super Formula season finale at Fuji Speedway, reducing his points gap to title leader Naoki Yamamoto.

Nick Cassidy, immediately behind Nojiri in the standings and understood to be using an old Toyota engine after his previous one failed at Suzuka, set the pace immediately in qualifying’s first group.

KCMG’s Yuji Kunimoto beat him by two seconds with three minutes to go, but Cassidy replied with a lap two seconds up. Dandelion Racing’s Yamamoto set his first lap a minute later and went straight to the top, by two seconds, and was pipped to first place in the final minute by Nakajima Racing’s Toshiki Oyu.

Cassidy and Yamamoto then bettered themselves for second place, split by 0.010s, and at the end Mugen’s Ukyo Sasahara pipped Oyu by 0.062s. INGING’s Hiroaki Ishiura was 0.208s back in fifth, with Kondo Racing’s Sacha Fenestraz, Impul’s Yuhi Sekugichi and ROOKIE Racing’s Kazuya Oshima also progressing to Q2 after TOM’S driver Cassidy’s was sent to the back after losing laptimes to track limits offences.

In the second group ThreeBond Racing with Drago Corse’s Tatiana Calderon was surprisingly in first until the late improvements, where KCMG’s Kamui Kobayashi, Nakajima’s Hiroki Otsu, Dandelion’s Nirei Fukuzumi and B-MAX Racing’s Nobuharu Matsushita moved past her in quick succession for top spot.

Impul’s title contender Ryo Hirakawa headed the timesheet with 50s to go, and with two improvements stayed there ahead of Nojiri, Sho Tsuboi (INGING), Fukuzumi, Kazuki Nakajima (TOM’S), Kenta Yamashita (Kondo) and Matsushita – all spread by 0.516s. Otsu qualified 15th for his debut.

Matsushita was the man to beat in Q2, and he headed Sasahara by 0.075s (before his best lap was deleted). The title fighters had mixed fortunes: Yamamoto was third, Nojiri and Hirakawa progressed to Q3 in fifth and sixth, and Yamashita was 14th as Kondo struggled.

All eight cars in Q3 were pole contenders, and Nojiri set a record 1m19.972s with 30s to go to claim three points for pole. Tsuboi made it onto the front row at the end, just 0.017s off, and Yamamoto put a point between himself and Hirakawa in the title battle by qualifying third. Hirakawa didn’t improve late on and was eighth.

Qualifying results

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Dandelion Racing driver Yamamoto picked up his first win of the season, keeping hold of the race lead for the duration.

There were four formation laps before the race got underway due to cars stopping on track, and Yamamoto was able to get a clean getaway to lead going into the first turn.

He stayed in control after the first safety car period on the opening lap – caused by Tadasuke Makino going off into the barriers as the S Curves – and was one of the later cars to enter the pits.

The two-time champion kept the lead when the safety car was deployed agan after B-MAX Racing with Motopark’s Nobuharu Matsushita crashed on lap 19 of 28, shortly after he took his compulsory pitstop.

The race resumed on lap 22, however two laps later Hirakawa and Team Mugen’s Ukyo Sasahara went into the barriers after they went four-wide down the pit straight with KCMG’s Kamui Kobayashi and INGING’s Sho Tsuboi.

Yamamoto led a restart again on lap 26 and kept a relatively comfortable gap to the cars behind on his way to the win.

The result propels Yamamoto into the championship lead ahead of Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy.

Kazuki Nakajima finished in second place for TOM’S, as KCMG’s Yuji Kunimoto completed the podium in third having started the race from ninth position.

Despite being involved in the accident that caused the final safety car, Kobayashi got off lightly with car damage and was able to keep fourth place ahead of Nakajima’s team-mate Cassidy.

Hiroaki Ishiura claimed sixth for INGING having started back in 14th, making ground from retirements for drivers ahead.

Tomoki Nojiri ended his race in seventh having qualified on the front row, however he started the race from the back of the grid after his car had to be rescued on the way to the grid. He finished just ahead of Nakajima Racing rookie Toshiki Oyu.

The Kondo Racing duo of Kenta Yamashita and Sacha Fenestraz rounded out the top 10. The result is Fenestraz’s first finish in Super Formula since the season opener, securing 10th by passing Charles Milesi in the final few laps.

Race results (28 laps)

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Photo: Honda Racing

Naoki Yamamoto smashed the Super Formula track record at Suzuka on his way to claim pole position, as championship leaders Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy faltered.

The 1m34.533s lap time set by the two-time SF champion Yamamoto was over a second faster than Alex Palou’s pole lap at Suzuka in 2019.

Yamamoto was the first driver to go under 1m35s with his first flying lap in Q3. Team Mugen’s Tomoki Nojiri went above him at the chequered flag, but Yamamoto soon crossed the line to improve further and take pole for the first race of a double-header.

The result gives both drivers a great opportunity in the championship, as current points leader Hirakawa failed to leave the pits in his qualifying group after Team Impul found an issue with his car. Defending champion Cassidy, who is second in the standings for TOM’S, failed to get out of Q2 in 11th place.

Yamamoto’s Dandelion Racing team-mate Nirei Fukuzumi will start the race just behind him on the second row of the grid, alongside Cassidy’s teeam-mate Kazuki Nakajima.

Tadasuke Makino was the last driver to set a lap time under 1m35s and the Nakajima Racing driver will start in fifth. Kamui Kobayashi – who won the World Endurance Championship last month – qualified in sixth on his series return with KCMG.

Makino’s team-mate Toshiki Oyu was seventh fastest, while Ukyo Sasahara made it two Mugen cars in Q3 in eighth.

The top 10 for the start of today’s race was rounded out by Yuji Kunimoto (KCMG) and Yuhi Sekiguchi (Team Impul).

Kondo Racing duo Kenta Yamashita and Sacha Fenestraz both failed to get out of their groups and into Q2, while Okayama winner Sho Tsuboi only managed to qualify 13th.

Qualifying results

The post Yamamoto sets Suzuka record with Super Formula pole, Hirakawa last appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Red Bull Content Pool

Red Bull has spent several years working with its F1 engine supplier Honda now and is supporting Japanese talent. In Super Formula’s season opener, there are four drivers racing with unique links to the brand

Beyond the series that had to shut shop entirely for 2020, Super Formula has been one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic when it comes to getting drivers on the grid – and that’s mostly been down to Japan’s strict travel restrictions on visiting foreign nationals (all but banned for some time) and locals returning from a long list of countries.

The series itself actually held out by running one of its pre-season tests, not to the glee of all drivers, as the COVID-19 epidemic grew into a pandemic and the rest of motorsport halted action. Soon after it was the same story in Japan though, with the cancellation of the second pre-season test and the postponement of pretty much the whole season.

A seven-round calendar has been restored, with Japanese Grand Prix venue Suzuka holding a double-header in December but losing both of its traditional spots as the season opener and closer. Twin Ring Motegi inherits the first of those spots and runs this weekend, and will be notable not only for its late start but for the absence of two highly anticipated talents.

Red Bull junior Juri Vips came short of qualifying for an FIA superlicence during his time in FIA Formula 3 last year, but a one-off in Super Formula with Team Mugen as a replacement to two of his stablemates was encouraging enough for Red Bull to find him a full-time seat in the series for 2020. At the same time, it placed its Honda junior Yuki Tsunoda in Formula 2.

Originally bypassing F2 seems to have been a doomed call, with Tsunoda enjoying a successful rookie season in the series while Vips has had to step down to Formula Regional European Championship to earn superlicence points due to failing to acquire a work visa to enter Japan.

That programme has been in an “unprofessional” setting according to Vips, with engine issues and unreleased brakes meaning he was only fifth in the points after six races. Now, thanks to the poor luck of Sean Gelael, he’ll be able to prove himself in F2 with DAMS alongside ex-Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum, who he effectively replaced last year in SF.

And with Vips making his F2 debut in Belgium, it means somebody else is making their SF debut in his place at Mugen.

Ukyo Sasahara was Asian F3 champion with Hitech GP last year and won three races this season as a guest driver. He’s better known by junior single-seater fans for rivalling current F2 stars Jack Aitken and Louis Deletraz in Formula Renault 2.0 back in 2015, but his move up to FIA European F3 a year later only lasted two rounds and he had to rebuild his career from the bottom back in Japan, initially as a Honda junior.

Last year he won the inaugural Motorsport Games GT Cup for his home country and the Porsche Carrera Cup Japan title in addition to his F3 success, and this eased his path towards a first professional drive with Mugen in Super GT. He got that seat by seriously impressing ex-F1 driver and Mugen team boss Shinji Nakano, who rates the 24-year-old as capable of being Japan’s next F1 driver and unsurprisingly had him as his first pick for SF once it was clear Vips would be unavailable.

Vips will get to race against Tsunoda at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza over the next two weekends, the repeat of a duel they could only have in FIA F3 last year at the expense of Tsunoda’s clashing Euroformula commitments. The driver called up to stand in on that occasion was Honda junior Toshiki Oyu.

The 22-year-old won the JAF Japan F4 titles in 2016 and came third in the FIA series. His second year in the category wasn’t a huge improvement, finishing behind Super Formula Lights title favourite Ritomo Miyata, Sasahara and Tsunoda.

Oyu was then put in Japanese F3 with Toda Racing, which runs a self-built engine and has rarely rivalled the might of Toyota-backed TOM’S or B-MAX Racing. In two seasons he picked up one win, but took two in his Euroformula cameo in the UK.

He had one test day before visiting Silverstone, where he left with two wins, two poles, the track record and interest from Dr Helmut Marko to put him in Red Bull colours permanently (rather than borrowing Tsunoda’s) for 2020. Alex Palou’s decision to leave Nakajima Racing’s SF line-up to move to IndyCar ended those plans though, with a rapid test showing prompting Satoru Nakajima to sign Oyu as his replacement.

His test pace with the resurgent team has been very encouraging, and being able to turn that into success in the races should be an easier job than the one Palou and Tadasuke Makino faced last year as the loss of compulsory pitstops this season effectively turns the races into lengthy sprints that lend themselves to the team’s single-lap strength.

Once Oyu’s step up to Japan’s premier series was confirmed, it was decided at the same time to bring Tsunoda’s Euroformula rival and fellow Honda junior Teppei Natori back to Japan to take Oyu’s place at Toda in the rebranded SF Lights.

While also a winner in Euroformula, his transition to the next-generation Dallara 320 in SF Lights testing has been indicative that he won’t be outperforming Toda’s usual place in the pecking order. And his efforts to change that may be put on an early back foot after his sponsors secured the 19-year-old an SF drive for Motegi at the last minute at B-MAX Racing with Motopark.

Not only will this mean he’s on double duty, doing four races in a gruelling shortened weekend schedule, but also comes after only first sampling the Dallara SF-19 in Friday’s pre-event test. He’s replacing Red Bull’s F1 reserve driver Sergio Sette Camara, who along with team-mate Charles Milesi cannot make it to Japan, meaning B-MAX will only be running one car.

Photo: Super Formula Lights

The most high-profile of these Red Bull stand-ins, both in personal reputation and in situation, is two-time SF champion Naoki Yamamoto. Still scantly known outside of Japan, the 32-year-old took over the AlphaTauri (nee Toro Rosso) of former SF team-mate Pierre Gasly for the first free practice session of the 2019 Japanese GP, as Red Bull evaluated whether to accommodate him into their F1 plans further – and whether the solely Japan-based Yamamoto wanted to.

He ended up less than a tenth off the pace of Daniil Kvyat, who was retained for 2020 alongside Gasly, leaving Yamamoto free to concentrate on claiming a third SF title. Last year he ended his long association with Mugen to join Dandelion Racing, and the move very almost secured him back-to-back crowns.

His emotional defeat to Nick Cassidy, who sits on the Toyota side of Japan’s manufacturer rivalry and is a Red Bull athlete, could swing back in favour of the more experienced driver as his New Zealand-born rival has had an off-season heavy on distractions and company politics. While Cassidy has drawn first blood in their parallel Super GT rivalry, he’s already required to start preparing for his rookie Formula E season with Virgin Racing, which starts less than a month after SF concludes.

While he has not been a stand-in anywhere for some years, there’s one other Red Bull-linked driver on the grid: Ryo Hirakawa.

He shares a TOM’S car with Cassidy in Super GT, but races for Team Impul in SF and has reasons to look forward to this weekend. In pre-season testing he headed Dandelion’s Nirei Fukuzumi, Oyu and Yamamoto at the front, and is returning to the venue of his popular first SF win last year; his fifth season since debuting as reigning Japanese F3 champion in 2013.

Further reading
What is Super Formula?
WEC stars given Japan entry in time for Super Formula opener
The response from Super Formula pre-season testing
Why 2020 could propel Sacha Fenestraz back into F1’s view
Why Red Bull should end its Super Formula experiment
Dan Ticktum on the story of his Red Bull exit
Nick Cassidy: The secret Red Bull superstar F1 cannot ignore

The post The Red Bull stand-ins to watch in Super Formula this weekend appeared first on Formula Scout.

The first race used the winged junior single-seater chassis from SRS-Formula, a 25-year-old championship that is run by Suzuka Circuit Racing School.

Former Formula 1 driver Takuma Sato, a SCRS graduate in 1997, is now principal of SRS-F and SRS-Kart and assembled some of his fellow Japanese stars to race his training cars in a six-lap encounter.

Sato started from pole, ahead of Super Formula race-winners Takuya Izawa, Koudai Tsukakoshi, Naoki Yamamoto and Tomoki Nojiri, series rookies Nirei Fukuzumi and Tadasuke Makino, and Euroformula Open star Teppei Natori.

The massively experienced Sato left his grid box early on the warm-up lap, then lost his lead by going wide at the second apex of Turn 1. Izawa profited, but had lost the place a lap later to Nojiri.

Nojiri established a healthy lead, as Sato settled in second. On lap four, Sato went too deep into the downhill Turn 11 and conceded his place to Tsukakoshi, then backed off down the pit straight to start a fight for third with Izawa and Makino.

Makino edged past Izawa at Turn 11 on the penultimate lap, while Tsukakoshi started hunting down leader Nojiri.

Nojiri went unusually slow on the last lap, meaning Tsukakoshi was on his gearbox by Turn 10. He couldn’t get a move done before the sweeping final few corners, but managed to pull alongside down the pit straight and pipped Nojiri to victory in a photo finish.

Sato also slowed up so that he was only just ahead of Makino as they met the chequered flag, which was being waved by Toro Rosso F1 driver Daniil Kvyat and a young fan. Izawa beat Natori to fifth, while Fukuzumi finished a very distant seventh. Two-time SF champion Yamamoto, who admitted he had joined in for fun, retired in the pits.

The second race used the Honda-powered SF cars, with a seven-car grid that consisted of Makino, Yamamoto, Fukuzumi, Alex Palou, Tsukakoshi, Nojiri and Lucas Auer.

Yamamoto passed Makino for the lead within two corners, while bad starts for Tsukakoshi and Auer left them way behind.

Fukuzumi made a brilliant move around the outside of Turn 9 to claim second from Makino on lap one, but Makino reclaimed it a corner later.

Makino took the lead at the start of lap two, with Yamamoto snatching it back on lap three at the Turn 7 sweep. Nojiri followed him through two corners later, then took the lead himself at Turn 1.

Fukuzumi passed three cars in nine corners to then move into first, but was there for a few seconds at Nojiri got back past. Yamamoto slipstreamed past both at Turn 11, but Nojiri was back ahead a few corners later.

Auer meanwhile was on a charge, going from fourth to first on lap five. He was passed by Yamamoto, but triumphed in a side-by-side battle through the final corners of lap seven to take victory.

The post Honda single-seater stars contest thrilling demo races at Motegi appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Honda Racing F1

The first free practice session on grand prix weekends is often used to trial drivers looking for a Formula 1 berth. While the time on track is not normally used to show outright lap time, a new name can still stand out

On Friday at Suzuka, Toro Rosso trialled two-time Super Formula and Super GT champion Naoki Yamamoto in FP1 for the Japanese Grand Prix. On his first run in an F1 car, he was just 0.098 seconds slower than team-mate Daniil Kvyat.

The 31-year-old, at times rumoured to be filling more than just a free practice-only role this weekend, ran more laps than anybody else and will return to Suzuka later this month as SF points leader in his pursuit of a third title.

Red Bull driver development boss Dr Helmut Marko has been in attendance at SF races and certainly has his eyes on Yamamoto: a driver who shares a nationality with Red Bull’s engine supplier Honda and possesses a mental fortitude that Marko maybe deems lacking in some of his other proteges.

It’s not impossible for him to be racing at Toro Rosso next year, given previous contradictory comments and decisions Red Bull has made about its driver plans, and FP1 is a perfect opportunity to judge the Japanese driver’s potential.

Five years ago, Red Bull played the same trick at Suzuka when it put 17-year-old Max Verstappen in at Toro Rosso for one session in place of Jean-Eric Vergne. He’d already secured his surprise F1 berth, and the rest – they say – is history. As well as Verstappen, here are four other young drivers who used their first practice-only appearance to make an F1 mark.

Max Verstappen TORO ROSSO was 17y/o
Japanese GP, October 3 2014. 12th fastest (+0.443s on team-mate)

To gain the FIA superlicence required to contest FP1 at Suzuka, Marko’s ‘new Senna’ spent a day at Adria in Italy the month before, in changing weather conditions, setting laps in Toro Rosso’s 2012 car.

The child sensation didn’t adapt seamlessly to contemporary machinery, struggling with gear and handling issues before his learning curve was cut by an engine failure. He recorded 22 laps and was 12th fastest, 0.443 seconds behind team-mate Daniil Kvyat.

Afterwards, Verstappen was frank about his experience. He admitted to not approaching the limit of the car around such a skill-heavy track, focusing on getting embedded in complex systems he would likely be using in 2015 and “driving safely”.

When questioned on his first experience of managing the hybrid powertrain, he replied with a comparison to PlayStation. Not surprising given he had turned 17 three days prior.

Analysis of the times that day showed Verstappen was actually up on Kvyat through sectors two and three on one run, and it’s no surprise that Verstappen called for the more experienced Jean-Eric Vergne to be retained for 2015 to learn from.

Verstappen oddly had an F1 seat before his first test, but by his third free practice appearance at Interlagos, where he saved a sideways car from spinning at Turn 12 to the amazement of Vergne, he had convinced people he deserved his place in F1.

Lando Norris McLAREN was 18y/o
Belgian GP, August 24 2018. 18th fastest (-0.088s on team-mate)

As his prize for winning the previous year’s Autosport BRDC Award, McLaren picked Lando Norris for the in-season Hungaroring test in 2017. He was the first award winner to get a run in a contemporary car, and became McLaren’s reserve driver at the end of the year.

He had to wait another year for his free practice debut at Spa-Francorchamps, during which time Red Bull made a meaningful approach for his services. The debut came not long after two-time world champion Fernando Alonso announced he would not be driving for McLaren in 2019, and it was clear immediately that Norris’s FP1 run was a rehearsal for a race seat.

Given the team’s struggles over the last few years, it was no surprise that Norris was three seconds off the pace, but he completed more laps and was faster than team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne, who was hit by brake and engine problems.

Most of Norris’s time was spent doing aero tests, and McLaren highlighted his “adaptability” given he was also racing in Formula 2 that weekend – the latter being Norris’s priority.

A second FP1 shot at Italy was hit by heavy rain, but Norris had already done enough for McLaren to make its decision and he was announced alongside Carlos Sainz Jr as one of its 2019 drivers just a few days later.

Anthony Davidson BAR?was 24y/o
Australian GP, March 5 2004. 9th fastest (+0.054s on team-mate)

Formula Ford Festival winner Anthony Davidson won the Autosport BRDC Award on December 3, 2000. A day later he was signed by an “extremely excited” British American Racing, based in Brackley, as its test driver for the next F1 season.

Davidson was beaten by Carlin team-mate Takuma Sato to the 2001 British Formula 3 title, but he did win the Pau Grand Prix. By October though, he had already decided to ‘end’ his two-year car racing career for a full-time BAR test role.

He’d gained over 12,000km of F1 mileage in 2002, as well as impress Team Green in a Champ Car test, when he received a surprise call to replace the underperforming Alex Yoong at Minardi for the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix.

His first FP1 appearance started badly, breaking the pitlane speed limit and clocking a fine 13 seconds in, and despite a transmission problem he outpaced highly rated team-mate Mark Webber. He spun out of both races, but his reputation only seemed to grow as Jaguar, Jordan and Toyota registered interest despite him being contracted to BAR for another year.

BAR signed Sato as reserve driver for 2003, and Davidson’s role was reduced. He was linked to seats elsewhere, but was adamant he would not pay for a drive when he had a paid role. More than once, BAR team principal David Richards reiterated Davidson was integral to his team and hoped he would remain there for 2004, when it could run a third car for free practice.

Despite his limited track time over the previous year, Davidson started the ’04 season ninth fastest in Australia and full of confidence. Days later, he was setting the pace in collective testing. Most circuits were new to Davidson, including Monaco – where he was outpaced by only Michael Schumacher. At Shanghai, a circuit known by nobody, he was fastest by 0.885s.

A contractual dispute stopped an opportunity with Williams, and BAR’s impressive ’04 meant it couldn’t run a third car in 2005. In 2007, Davidson finally got an F1 race deal with Super Aguri, but that ended after just over a season. He returned to Brackley as test and simulator driver, and has remained there ever since. The team is now known as Mercedes-Benz.

Paul di Resta FORCE INDIA was 23y/o
Australian GP, March 26 2010. 11th fastest (+0.345s on team-mate)

After winning the F3 Euro Series in 2006, Paul di Resta was snatched by the DTM and was a staple of Mercedes’ factory line-up from 2008-’10. In 2009, the manufacturer started a relationship with Force India as an F1 engine customer, and at the end of the year it tested di Resta against Indy Lights champion J. R. Hildebrand in the first ever bespoke young driver test.

Force India effectively used it as a shootout to become its 2010 reserve, with di Resta prevailing. From the off, the idea was that in that position he would also take over from one of the regular drivers in free practice when it did not clash with DTM.

The team’s desire was to nurture di Resta’s talent in that role too, with his test and free practice programme designed to benefit him as much as the team. This also included exposure to F1 standard public relations, the first instance of which was unintentionally meeting a shark near a beach in Australia.

Given Melbourne’s unique nature as a circuit, it was an odd and difficult to prepare for choice as di Resta’s first FP1 appearance. Not only that, but it was also his first taste of Force India’s car in dry conditions.

A lengthy 25-lap run resulted in 11th place on the timesheet, and a very happy team as di Resta’s set-up data proved crucial. Most of the circuits were new to di Resta, including Silverstone, but that high start meant he was linked to a 2011 race seat (which he got) very quickly. His F1 learning curve helped his DTM results too, as he took Mercedes’ first title since 2006.

Esteban Ocon LOTUS was 18y/o
Abu Dhabi GP, November 21 2014. 16th fastest (+0.355s on team-mate)

As is standard with ‘Team Enstone”s young drivers, Esteban Ocon’s first F1 test came in Lotus’s 2012 car, and he more than impressed those who were present. Only just 18, the Frenchman immediately made his case to be in that year’s car.

In 2014, F1 introduced turbocharged 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines and hybrid components, and it took the teams as much learning as the drivers to understand the complex powertrain systems and how to manage them while on-track.

Recently crowned European F3 champion Ocon, who had beaten Verstappen to the title, was hot property and running him in the final free practice session of the season was supposed to be a clear sign that Lotus’s junior would be remaining there.

He was just over a third of a second off Pastor Maldonado in his single session, and the team was once again massively pleased with the job he had done in a car very different to drive compared to the 2012 chassis. Lotus was convinced that Ocon could competently step in on a grand prix weekend, and hired him as reserve for 2015.

Rival teams had eyes on Ocon, and Lotus advertising his strength of feedback after FP1 only made him more desirable.

Lotus’s failure to get Ocon in GP2 left him with ART Grand Prix in GP3 for ’15. It was a title-winning solution, but one made possible thanks to Mercedes, which quickly pinched him as its DTM reserve. The manufacturer had supported him in European F3, and it was clear its renewed interest in him lied in F1 when he was called up to test for Force India within days of signing.

He wasn’t officially a Mercedes F1 junior until November, but was loaned back to Renault (nee Lotus) over the winter before joining Mercedes’ DTM line-up. After four FP1 appearances with Renault, Ocon raced for Manor in the final nine races, with the French manufacturer expecting him to be free to race for it in 2017. Three years later, it eventually got its way.

George Russell FORCE INDIA was 19y/o
Brazilian GP, November 10 2017. 12th fastest (+0.593s on team-mate)

Mercedes junior George Russell had already clinched the 2017 GP3 title when he got his first F1 free practice call-up, meaning there were no excuses for struggling to adapt to both types of car like predecessor as champion Charles Leclerc had.

His opportunity with Force India at Interlagos came after sampling Mercedes’ title-leading car in the in-season Hungaroring test when its race drivers weren’t available to use. Unlike Leclerc, Russell seemed to benefit directly – and almost instantly – in GP3 from busying himself in F1-related activities, which included trialling the halo cockpit protection device.

Mercedes deliberately put Russell on free practice programmes that denied one-lap glory, a useful method of eyeing maturity given any driver with the fastest car on the grid would by right want to go as fast as possible.

When his FP1 debut came, with a different team, he fitted in seamlessly and had barely got out of the car before Force India were asking Mercedes whether they could keep him as reserve driver for 2018. Without explicitly saying it, every description given of Russell’s performance was to suggest that he was race-ready, including comparisons with the team’s existing line-up.

A financial package from Nicholas Latifi denied him a formal position there, and he turned down a singular FP1 offer to concentrate on winning the F2 title. A return Hungaroring visit in 2018 resulted in an unofficial track record, and Russell efficiently used the press to highlight his credibility as a F1 prospect.

It got to the point where Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was calling for three-car F1 teams to race so he could accommodate Russell, a piece of hyperbole that was part of a two-hander between the pair and the media.

Nearly 12 months of hype, which had built up from his FP1 cameo in Brazil, coupled with his headline-grabbing F2 results and a sharp mind resulted in Russell convincing Williams to sign him on a multi-year deal.

Yamamoto may be no young driver, but he’ll know of the opportunities a single session can lead to

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