How an F1 underachiever became a Japanese political player

One of the most satisfied spectators at last weekend’s Formula E race in Tokyo was the man who first drove an electric racing car on the streets of Japan’s capital. Back in 2015, former F1 driver Sakon Yamamoto, who made his only Formula E race start in London that year, conducted a street demo in the Roppongi district.

It took almost a decade – and a location switch from the heart of the city to a more remote exhibition centre area – for the category to finally run a race in Tokyo. And Yamamoto played a role by encouraging the local authorities to allow it to happen.

That’s because after his racing career ended, he followed in the footsteps of the likes of Carlos Reutemann and Patrick Tambay in moving from F1 to politics, taking up public office as a member of Japan’s house of representatives.

Now 41, Yamamoto had an unusual career. He started 21 grands prix spread across three bursts of seven in 2006, 2007 and 2010, always starting in the second half of the season as a replacement for someone who had fallen out of favour, or run out of budget.

As such he never raced in places like Melbourne or Monaco. The history books suggest that he didn’t achieve very much in terms of hard results, but he realised his childhood ambition and sat on grids with drivers of the calibre of Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. It was a dream that was set in place in 1988.

“My mother loves motorsport, she was keen on Ayrton Senna with McLaren-Honda,” he recalls. “So when I was six years old my mum took me to Suzuka for the Japanese GP. It was the first time I saw F1.

“I was amazed by the sound, the speed, the atmosphere, everything was like a big shock. Then after that I became a big fan of motorsport, but I didn’t know how to be an F1 driver, or how to start.”

Yamamoto was a relative latecomer to motorsport and had a tough learning curve on his way up the ranks

Photo by: Sutton Images

A few years later he discovered from magazines that racing drivers were in karting aged four or five, and he realised that it might already be too late: “I was surprised that after 12 years old the guys who started motorsport or kart racing didn’t get to F1, it was like a 0.1% chance. So again I was shocked. Only one year left!”

Showing considerable initiative, he wrote to the Suzuka Racing School asking to enrol in the karting programme, but the application was returned with a polite note to the effect that the 11-year-old needed parental consent. After some debate – his family’s main focus was on him one day taking over their hospital and social welfare business – that permission was forthcoming, and he had the chance to try karting. He proved to be quite good at it, even winning a national championship, before gaining his first car experience at the Suzuka school.

In 2001 at the age of 18, Yamamoto skipped the local junior circuit category and went straight into F3 with TOM’S, finishing an impressive fourth in the championship as top local driver. He also contested a handful of races in British F3. The following year, and with just one season behind him, he headed to Germany at the start of a peripatetic career path that never allowed him to properly establish himself.

"Just before the top you don’t see anything, just many clouds. I recognised I was getting close, but I didn’t see how I can be there"
Sakon Yamamoto

“If I review my career, more consistency was needed,” he admits. “Like racing in F3 in Japan, maybe I could do another year, and then go to Europe for the new challenge. And then do more research, and know which teams can be the best options.”

In 2002, Yamamoto contested German F3, which transitioned into the new Euro Series the following year.

“I didn’t know anything, but I thought I need to be in Europe to go up to F1,” he says. “It was quite a big step. And at the time, there was no person who supported me, so it was quite a hard time. I don’t speak any German. And I wasn’t used to eating sausages and potatoes every day!”

Having struggled to make progress over two years in Europe, Yamamoto returned to Japanese F3 in 2004. He scored his first race win in the final round, and then graduated to Formula Nippon (now Super Formula) in 2005, finishing a modest 10th in the championship and taking one second place.

Yamamoto made his first steps towards the F1 grid when he sampled a Jordan in Friday practice at Suzuka in 2005

Photo by: Sutton Images

“I saw F1 was getting closer, but it’s like a mountain,” he explains. “You can see the top when you start, but if you climb up, the curve is higher, more tough. Just before the top you don’t see anything, just many clouds. I recognised I was getting close, but I didn’t see how I can be there.”

That year, courtesy of his former F3 boss Colin Kolles, Yamamoto made a key step when he drove a Jordan in Friday practice at Suzuka. He began 2006 with a couple of top-six finishes in Formula Nippon. Then, in the middle of the year, the chance came to replace Franck Montagny at Super Aguri, starting at Magny-Cours. But an intervention from Bernie Ecclestone ensured that his graduation was delayed so that Montagny could be the token local driver in the field for what was the 100th anniversary of the French GP.

“I called Bernie and he said, ‘I know you have a contract, but if you let Montagny drive, I’m very happy,’” Yamamoto recalls. “OK, understood. I don’t know if it was correct or not, but I recognise now it was quite a political moment…”

Yamamoto’s debut was thus postponed to Hockenheim, where a practice crash, pitlane start and first-lap retirement made for a nightmare baptism. He contested the final seven races of the season, finishing three of them and ending the year on a high by logging the seventh-fastest lap in Brazil. But for 2007 he was replaced by Anthony Davidson.

Instead, he began that year in GP2 with the BCN team, but then a call came from Kolles inviting him to replace Christijan Albers at Spyker. Again, he completed the last seven races of the season and achieved what would be a career best 12th at Fuji.

But there was no chance to stay at ‘Team Silverstone’ as it morphed into Force India in 2008. Yamamoto therefore stepped back to GP2 with ART, and gained his only F1 miles doing street demo runs with Renault, before moving to ADAC GT with a Team Rosberg Audi in 2009.

It wasn’t until 2010 that a chance to return to the F1 grid emerged, again courtesy of Kolles, who by this time was running the struggling HRT team and was juggling drivers around. Yamamoto replaced Bruno Senna at Silverstone and subbed for Karun Chandhok in Germany, and later was himself kicked out for Christian Klien.

After being replaced at Super Aguri by Davidson, Yamamoto returned to the grid with Spyker for the final seven rounds of 2007

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

Even so, he completed his third set of seven races. Kolles even offered to sell him the ailing team for $1 but, well aware of the mounting bills, Yamamoto wisely declined. Sadly that was it. He was an official reserve for Virgin in 2011 but never had another chance to sit on the F1 grid, and his racing career fizzled out, apart from the odd FE or Japanese appearance.

“Of course, it was not ideal,” he recounts. “And it’s a quite unique and strange career in F1, but still, that is what it is.

“I always joined in the middle of season. So everyone else has had testing, they are driving through the season, so they have more consistency, and they can build their own team with the team staff, and build their confidence. But always the chance came suddenly. And I always tried to grab the chance, because you never know.”

Having walked away from racing, the family business took priority for Yamamoto.

"It’s a quite unique and strange career in F1, but still, that is what it is"
Sakon Yamamoto

“I just started to watch my family’s place,” he says. “I recognised that, as a racing driver, I drove for myself. But people working in a hospital or working in facilities are taking care of other people. So that’s a quite respected job. That was my turning point to switch.”

He also began to gravitate towards politics, his interest sparked by the social and financial impact of his country’s declining and ageing population.

“The system is not fit enough nowadays,” he points out. “We had a different situation, there was an increase in population more and more, but now it’s decreasing. So we need to change the politics. That was my first motivation to become a politician.”

Yamamoto's F1 career concluded with a stint at the Hispania team in 2010

Photo by: Motorsport Images

The same determination that got Yamamoto to F1, combined with the amiable personality that won him many friends in the racing world, paid dividends. In 2021, he became a member of the lower house for the Liberal Democratic Party.

Yamamoto’s former life still plays a role in his current one: “There are many connections because in motorsport of course we use cars, and motorisation is huge in Japan’s economy. So my experience is quite useful even now in my new job.

“Especially the energy business, like in the future we need e-fuels, so I really push on this part. Evidence-based policy making, EBPM, is very important for us. So it is like F1, always a package of evidence, like how data shows how much you’re going on the throttle or brakes.”

What Yamamoto doesn’t want to do is to one day seek higher office, believing that he can do more where he is now, where he can be more hands-on.

“To become the top is not my goal, because I became a politician so Japanese people can live more happily, or can have more wealth,” he asserts. “That is my goal. So to achieve these is my object. I always try my best for everybody.”

Sakon Yamamoto is today a politician working to improve the lives of ordinary Japanese citizens

Photo by: Sakon Yamam