The British F1 hopeful reborn in Super Formula

In recent years, when high-profile international drivers have arrived in Japan to race in Super Formula, it has often been with the explicit goal of using the series as a launching pad to Formula 1. Think Stoffel Vandoorne, Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson and Theo Pourchaire – plus, in recent days, potentially Kalle Rovanpera.

Others have come to Japan after dropping off the F1 ladder in the hopes of rebuilding their careers, but few have done so after coming as close to the big-time as Zak O’Sullivan.

Heading into 2024, O'Sullivan looked like a genuine F1 prospect after an impressive season in FIA Formula 3, finishing runner-up to Gabriel Bortoleto. He earned two days of running at the wheel of a Williams F1 car at the end of the year, and looked well-placed to succeed in Formula 2 with ART Grand Prix.

Had things gone his way, it’s very possible that it would have been 2021 Autosport BRDC Award winner O’Sullivan that got the call-up to replace Logan Sargeant mid-season.

Instead, the chance went to O’Sullivan’s rival on the Williams F1 junior scheme, Franco Colapinto, as ART dropped the ball with F2’s new-for-2024 car. O’Sullivan didn’t even see out the season as the money dried up, leaving him facing an uncertain future heading into 2025 after parting ways with Williams.

That was until the 20-year-old from Cheltenham was given a last-minute invitation by Toyota to take part in the end-of-season Super Formula rookie test at Suzuka last December with Kondo Racing, which wanted to sign a new foreign driver. Having rushed to Japan, he went up against Juan Manuel Correa and James Hedley for the seat, and came out on top.

“When I got the call for the test, I was in London, I was literally still in bed in the morning,” recalls O’Sullivan, who was only announced to be taking part on the morning the three-day test started. “I got on the tube, went straight to the airport and I was on a flight two hours later. I arrived, was driven to the track, did a seat fit and then drove the next day.

O'Sullivan went from not knowing what the next step in his career would be, to testing in Super Formula in 48 hours

Photo by: Toyota

“I didn't know what was going on – I wasn’t even aware it was a shootout. I didn’t know who was driving the other car until I turned up at the circuit and saw the name written on the side!

“It all came together super last-minute and I wasn’t expecting it at all. I didn’t think I would be racing anything this year, maybe just some sim work for F1 teams if I could get it. I had no budget at all left after F2. I might have had some opportunities in GT3 racing, but it was unlikely I would get a drive for free. So Super Formula was a complete lifesaver.”

O’Sullivan knew what he was letting himself in for by joining Kondo Racing, which is not one of Super Formula’s perennial contenders, as he took over the seat occupied last year by Kazuto Kotaka (14th in the points, best finish of eighth). “I was always realistic about it,” he says of his pre-season expectations. “Even during the rookie test, I was quite far off, and you look at Kondo’s results from last season, it was clear it wasn’t going to be a winning season.”

"It’s a different world. Japanese racing is a lot more mechanical based, and set-up changes are based on the experience of the engineer. Whereas in F3 and F2, it’s all simulation-based. If the simulation says no, you don’t do it" Zak O'Sullivan

But one thing that did surprise O’Sullivan was how Japanese teams in general operate compared to what he had been used to on the European single-seater ladder.

“It’s a different world,” he explains. “Japanese racing is a lot more mechanical based, and set-up changes are based on the experience of the engineer. Whereas in F3 and F2, it’s all simulation-based. If the simulation says no, you don’t do it, and you essentially arrive at the start of the weekend with the car already theoretically maximised.

“In Japan, a lot more is based on driver feeling. You have much more control as a driver, but with this control comes some peril. When I first came here, I was really excited about that, but through the year I’ve found that, because the race weekends are quite compact, the chances of getting lost are much higher than finding a magic bullet.”

O'Sullivan has teamed up with Yamashita and been learning from the Super Formula veteran

Photo by: Masahide Kamio

Sharing the Kondo garage with Super Formula veteran Kenta Yamashita, a constant fixture of the team since 2017, has also been an eye-opener. “Kenta doesn’t change much during the weekend and just maximises what he has instead of chasing perfection,” says O’Sullivan. “He has been with the team for so long, he has adapted his driving style to the limitations we have. He is a bit of a Kondo specialist and that’s helped me a lot.”

Given the circumstances of his arrival in Japan, O’Sullivan says he knew it was not realistic to expect a title challenge to materialise in year one, Liam Lawson-style. Red Bull junior Lawson finished second in the points in 2023 driving for Team Mugen, one of the series’ undisputed top teams. But he does admit that it has been a lot tougher than expected.

After starting the season well with an eighth-place finish in the opening round at Suzuka, O’Sullivan would have to wait until race nine of the series at Sugo in early August for another finish inside the points. Those two weekends had two things in common. The first is that they are both somewhat similar tracks in that they don’t have many slow corners. “The more high-speed corners there are, the closer I seem to be to the pace,” says O’Sullivan.

The second, perhaps more influential factor, is that O’Sullivan was supported in the Kondo pitbox by ex-British F4 racer Dougie Bolger at both Suzuka and Sugo. Bolger, a dual Japanese/British national, has been instrumental in smoothing out the communication between O’Sullivan and his chief engineer Kazuya Abe, who doesn’t speak English.

“He has the perfect credentials,” says O’Sullivan of Bolger, who missed the intervening rounds due to his university studies but should be back for the remaining double-headers at Fuji in October and Suzuka in November. “It’s one thing being able to speak Japanese, but it’s different speaking ‘racing Japanese’, as well as ‘racing English’.”

Besides the inevitable communication teething issues, learning the tracks in Japan from scratch has also been a challenge for O’Sullivan, whose education has been sped up by a parallel Super GT programme with the CarGuy MKS Racing team in the GT300 class.

“The most important thing has to be commitment in the opening laps of practice,” says O’Sullivan. “If you are there on the first few laps, it makes the whole weekend a lot easier. You’re coming into it with drivers who are already up to speed. They are on it straight away. Their first push lap will often be their best of the session, because the tyres are at their best, whereas for me, my first push lap is normally my worst!”

The British driver has stepped up his Japanese racing education with outings in Super GT

Photo by: Super GT

Despite the difficulties, O’Sullivan is keen to highlight how much he has enjoyed his Japanese foray so far, and says extending his relationship with Toyota into 2026 is likely.

“This year hasn’t been great so far, but it’s a championship I would like to perform well in, and I’ve enjoyed Super GT as well. Whether it was GT500 or another year of GT300, I don’t really mind, but I’ve enjoyed the first year outside of the ‘Road to F1’.”

Indeed, O’Sullivan describes the change of mindset that comes with no longer being preoccupied by chasing the next step up the single-seater ladder, or with ensuring he came out on top against his fellow Williams juniors in any given category, as “ quite refreshing”.

O’Sullivan has no regrets with how it ended at Williams, for nobody could have foreseen just how badly ART would get it wrong in F2 last season

“I always put a lot of pressure on myself, but especially from F4 onwards. I always knew that I only had the budget to do one year of each championship, which was fine until I got to F3 with Carlin and that was a bit tougher,” O’Sullivan reflects. “Until then, I was trying to win each championship in the first year.

“Also in the Williams Academy, you are always being evaluated, especially on F1 weekends. You walk into the motorhome and they are showing F2 practice or F3 practice on the screens, so you know you are being watched! You try and put that out of your mind, but there’s still pressure. It has taken me a while to get out of that mindset and chill out slightly.

“I want to perform, but also there is more leniency, not only in Japan, but just outside the F1 ladder. Up to now, my mindset has been that if you're struggling after the first two rounds, you might get dropped or you won’t get a seat for next year. But out here, I have just driven.”

O'Sullivan was limited to Williams F1 test outings, but has no regrets on his pursuit to reach the grand prix grid

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

O’Sullivan has no regrets with how it ended at Williams, for nobody could have foreseen just how badly ART would get it wrong in F2 last season. “That first year in F2 is make or break,” he opines. “And it can work both ways – look at Alex Dunne, who was nothing special in F3 and now is on the F1 radar. It’s like a funnel: you either get close to F1 or you drop off. But that is the reality and everyone knows it when they sign up.”

Of course, had O’Sullivan been handed the Williams F1 chance last year instead of Colapinto, it may not have made a great deal of difference to his long-term prospects with Ferrari outcast Carlos Sainz incoming at the Grove team for 2025 anyway – although it might have saved Jack Doohan from being dropped after a handful of races at Alpine!

And if O’Sullivan can establish a true foothold in Super Formula and Super GT with the backing of Toyota, it’s quite possible that he could end up having the longer and more successful career of the two former rivals on the Williams junior roster in any case.

O'Sullivan returns to Super Formula action this weekend at Fuji

Photo by: Toyota