Kamui Kobayashi
Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese professional racing driver who,, competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG. He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the GP2 Asia Series.
Racing career
Early career
Kobayashi was born in Amagasaki, near Kobe. His father owns a sushi restaurant. He began his career in motorsport in 1996 when he was nine years old, finishing third in his first season of karting in the SL Takarazuka Tournament Cadet Class. During the following seven years, Kobayashi took four karting titles, winning the Toyota SL All Japan Tournament Cadet Class series twice.In 2004, he signed for Toyota's Driver Academy and soon began his career in open wheel racing. His next step was Formula Renault, entering the Asian, German, Italian and Dutch championships and taking two race victories in the Italian championship. Kobayashi continued in the Formula Renault class, entering the Italian and European championships and with six wins in both championships, he won both titles.
In 2006, Kobayashi entered the Formula 3 Euro Series with ASM Formule 3 alongside Paul di Resta, Giedo van der Garde and Sebastian Vettel. He took three podium positions in his debut season, coming eighth in the Drivers' Championship and first in the Rookie's Championship. Kobayashi also entered the Macau Grand Prix and the Masters of Formula 3, which are annual Formula Three events. Kobayashi started in 10th place and finished the race a place lower in 11th, while at the Macau Grand Prix, he started the race in pole position but finished in 19th place.
At the beginning of 2007, Kobayashi, along with Kohei Hirate, was named as one of the Toyota Formula One team's test drivers. He stayed in the Euro Series for the upcoming season and had an impressive start, taking two podiums in the first four rounds. He achieved his first race victory in Formula 3 at Magny-Cours, in the tenth round, a support race for the Formula One French Grand Prix. Kobayashi finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship.
GP2
Following a successful GP2 Asia Series campaign in early 2008, Kobayashi won his first GP2 Series race in only the second race of the season. After a strong start from pole in the sprint race at the Circuit de Catalunya, Kobayashi took the chequered flag in first place. This was after a controversial piece of defensive driving from his former Euro Series teammate Romain Grosjean after a safety car period. At the end of the pit straight, Kobayashi attempted a pass on Grosjean. However, the Frenchman moved more than once to defend his position, forcing Kobayashi into evasive action. This resulted in a drive through penalty for the Frenchman, handing the win to Kobayashi. However, he only finished in the points on one further occasion, restricting him to sixteenth in the championship.Another successful GP2 Asia campaign followed over the winter months of 2008 and 2009, with Kobayashi winning two races en route to the championship, with a round to spare. Kobayashi could not repeat his form in the main series, finishing sixteenth again.
Formula One (2007–2012)
On November 16, 2007 it was confirmed that Kobayashi would replace the departing Franck Montagny as the Toyota F1 team's third driver. He was the team's test and reserve driver during the and seasons.Toyota (2009)
2009
At the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix, Kobayashi competed in the first two free practice sessions in place of Timo Glock, who was ill. Glock recovered in time to take part in the third free practice session and qualifying, but was injured after crashing in the final session and had to miss the race. Toyota asked the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile for permission to run Kobayashi in the race, but this was refused as the regulations state a driver must run in at least one session on Saturday to be eligible to start the race.Kobayashi made his Formula One debut at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix, following a complication to Glock's injury that was initially not detected. He qualified 11th in a chaotic session that lasted for over two and half hours and was red-flagged twice due to accidents caused by torrential rain. Early in the race, while running in sixth place, he held off for several laps a challenge by Jenson Button, who needed to finish well to clinch the world championship. He finished the race in tenth place, and was later promoted to ninth when Heikki Kovalainen was penalised. Button jokingly described Kobayashi as "absolutely crazy, very aggressive". He also competed in the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as Glock's injury had not healed sufficiently. Kobayashi qualified 12th and finished sixth, scoring his first World Championship points, in the inaugural day-night race in Abu Dhabi.
Before Toyota decided to withdraw from Formula One, Kobayashi was expected to be given a full-time seat at Toyota for the 2010 Formula One Season.
Sauber (2010–2012)
2010
Following Toyota's withdrawal, Kobayashi faced an uncertain future, but he was mentioned in lists of probable drivers for the series' new teams for 2010. After weeks of speculation, it was confirmed on December 17, 2009 he would drive for Peter Sauber's recovered Sauber team after BMW Sauber had withdrawn for 2010. His teammate was former McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa. Kobayashi completed his first laps in the new Sauber C29 chassis during F1 winter testing on 2 February.During the, a front wing failure on his Sauber caused him to hit the barrier, rebounding off it to cause a three-car crash taking out Nico Hülkenberg and Sébastien Buemi. In the next race in Malaysia he qualified in ninth place, his best grid position up to that point, however he suffered an engine failure early in the race. In China, Kobayashi was involved in a three-way collision with Buemi and Vitantonio Liuzzi on the first lap, making him the only driver to retire from the first four races. In Turkey, he won his first points of the season, coming home tenth after being promoted a place due to Vettel's retirement after a collision with teammate Webber and Petrov's puncture. In Valencia, he finished seventh by passing both Fernando Alonso and Sébastien Buemi in the final laps on fresh tyres, after driving the majority of the race in third position on his first set of tyres. He followed that with sixth place in Silverstone, eleventh in Germany, ninth in Hungary and eighth in Belgium.
At the, Kobayashi suffered a gearbox failure and retired from the after hitting a track-side barrier. Kobayashi's teammate changed in Singapore as Pedro de la Rosa was removed in favour of Nick Heidfeld. In Japan, Kobayashi qualified 14th and finished seventh, passing several drivers along the way including his teammate, in a very impressive fashion. He finished eighth in Korea and tenth in Brazil, eventually finishing the season with 32 points. In his review of the season, former TV commentator Murray Walker stated that Kobayashi is "without a doubt Japan's best yet". Kobayashi gained a reputation during the season as a highly skilled overtaker, being able to outbrake drivers several car lengths in front of him. His aggressive overtaking style was described by Martin Brundle as, "He gets to the normal braking point and then goes, 'Now, which one is the brake again? That's right, it's on the left,' and he just sails past people!" He qualified well against his more experienced teammates, outqualifying de la Rosa and Heidfeld 11 times to 8 over the season.
2011
Kobayashi remained with Sauber in, where he was partnered by GP2 graduate Sergio Pérez. Kobayashi finished eighth in the season opening, but he and Pérez – who had finished seventh – were disqualified after the race due to an irregularity with the car's rear-wing. The next race of the season in Malaysia was another strong showing for Kobayashi, finishing eighth in the race, eventually classified seventh after Lewis Hamilton received a penalty. He finished tenth in his next three races, before a career-high fifth place in an incident-packed Monaco Grand Prix. In an extremely wet, Kobayashi worked his way up from 13th place to 2nd having not decided to change to extreme wet tyres before the race was red-flagged, as many other drivers had. This essentially gave him a free pit stop while the race was suspended. After the restart, the track began to dry out, and after changing to intermediate tyres and finally slicks, Kobayashi dropped several places, including having a spin whilst lapping a backmarker and being rear-ended by Nick Heidfeld. He eventually finished seventh, 0.045 seconds behind Felipe Massa, who passed him on the final straight.2012
On 28 July 2011, it was announced that Kobayashi would remain with Sauber into the season, alongside teammate Pérez.Kobayashi started the season with sixth place at the, and a retirement at the, due to a problem with his car's brakes.
He then started third at the behind the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher. He dropped to tenth but managed to set the fastest lap. At the he finished fifth after overtaking Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg. Kobayashi finished in the points once in the next four races, finishing ninth in Canada. Kobayashi finished in a career-best fourth place at the – having finished fifth on-the-road – as he was helped by a post-race penalty for second-placed Sebastian Vettel. After retiring late in the race at the, Kobayashi qualified a career-best second for the but was caught in a first-corner accident along with four other drivers. Kobayashi was the only one of the five to continue in the race, and finished thirteenth.
Kobayashi took his maiden podium in Formula One with third place at the, after lasting through race-long pressure from Jenson Button. Kobayashi became the first Japanese driver to finish on a Formula One podium in Japan in 22 years, after Aguri Suzuki in the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, and was the third Japanese driver to finish on a Formula One podium after Suzuki and Takuma Sato in the 2004 United States Grand Prix.
On 23 November 2012, Sauber announced that Kobayashi would not be a part of the team's line-up for the season, as Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Gutiérrez would form the race team and Robin Frijns as reserve driver. Kobayashi ultimately finished the season in twelfth place in the Drivers' Championship, with 60 points. Despite raising around €8 million in sponsorship, Kobayashi elected to focus on gaining a competitive drive for the season rather than a drive.
FIA World Endurance Championship (2013)
AF Corse
On 11 March 2013 it was confirmed that Kobayashi would drive for AF Corse in the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship season. He competed in the LMGTE-Pro class in the Ferrari 458 GT for what is expected to be all of the season's 8 rounds, including the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans.Kobayashi also tested a 2010 Formula One Ferrari in preparation for a promotional event in Moscow, where he crashed in the wet.
In the 81st edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2013, Kobayashi and the AF Corse team scored fifth place in the GTE-Pro class along with his co-drivers Olivier Beretta and Toni Vilander, their Ferrari 458 GT covered a total of 312 laps in the Circuit de la Sarthe. The race was run in very difficult weather conditions and several serious accidents bringing out a record of twelve safety car caution periods.
Return to Formula One (2014)
Caterham (2014)
On 21 January 2014, it was confirmed that Kobayashi would return to Formula One with the Caterham F1 team for the 2014 season partnering Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson after considerable speculation about the team's all new line-up for the new season.At the first race of the season, the, Kobayashi crashed into Massa at the start due to a brake failure. However, in the following, he was running as high as eighth, ahead of his teammate, the Marussias, and several other cars. He however finished the race in 13th, promoting Caterham to 10th in the Constructors' standings. However, later in the season Caterham were demoted to 11th due to Jules Bianchi achieving Marussia's first points finish in the.
On 20 August 2014, it was announced that German driver André Lotterer would replace Kobayashi for the race weekend. He returned to racing action at the after Lotterer declined a further offer due to the seat being taken in practice by Roberto Merhi, who was attempting to qualify for an FIA Super Licence. Kobayashi declared his unhappiness at the situation, with the team's driver plans changing at short notice and his own future uncertain.
Super Formula (2015–)
Team LeMans (2015–2016)
On 30 January 2015, it was confirmed that Kobayashi would drive for Team LeMans in the 2015 Super Formula season. He scored three podiums on his way to a fifth-place finish in the drivers' championship during his first year in the series.His second year with Team LeMans was less successful, only managing to score one point and finishing 17th in the championship.
KCMG (2017–)
Kobayashi moved to KCMG at the start of the 2017 season.Return to FIA World Endurance Championship (2016–)
Toyota Gazoo Racing
On 4 February 2016, Kobayashi was confirmed as a LMP1 driver for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship.Kobayashi scored his first WEC race victory at the 2016 6 Hours of Fuji, finishing ahead of the No. 8 Audi and the No. 1 Porsche.
Personal life
He was named after Kamuy, a divine being in Ainu mythology, and the letter of the name imitated the sound citing three Kanji from the sentence "Enabling great dream". Kobayashi is a supporter of Spanish-Valencian La Liga club Valencia CF.In April 2013, he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Sport award at The Asian Awards in London.
Racing record
Career summary
* Season still in progress.Complete Formula 3 Euro Series record
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos | Points |
| 2006 | ASM Formule 3 | Dallara F305/012 | Mercedes | HOC 1 6 | HOC 2 5 | LAU 1 11 | LAU 2 10 | OSC 1 11 | OSC 2 7 | BRH 1 6 | BRH 2 3 | NOR 1 5 | NOR 2 2 | NÜR 1 8 | NÜR 2 3 | ZAN 1 5 | ZAN 2 Ret | CAT 1 5 | CAT 2 Ret | BUG 1 DNS | BUG 2 14 | HOC 1 Ret | HOC 2 9 | 8th | 34 |
| 2007 | ASM Formule 3 | Dallara F305/012 | Mercedes | HOC 1 10 | HOC 2 10 | BRH 1 3 | BRH 2 3 | NOR 1 8 | NOR 2 Ret | MAG 1 1 | MAG 2 9 | MUG 1 2 | MUG 2 4 | ZAN 1 2 | ZAN 2 17 | NÜR 1 11 | NÜR 2 Ret | CAT 1 19 | CAT 2 Ret | NOG 1 2 | NOG 2 2 | HOC 1 4 | HOC 2 Ret | 4th | 59 |
Complete GP2 Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Points |
| 2008 | DAMS | CAT FEA 8 | CAT SPR 1 | IST FEA Ret | IST SPR 9 | MON FEA Ret | MON SPR 18 | MAG FEA Ret | MAG SPR 9 | SIL FEA Ret | SIL SPR 7 | HOC FEA Ret | HOC SPR 18 | HUN FEA 11 | HUN SPR 8 | VAL FEA Ret | VAL SPR 6 | SPA FEA 9 | SPA SPR 14 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR 13 | 16th | 10 |
| 2009 | DAMS | CAT FEA 8 | CAT SPR 5 | MON FEA Ret | MON SPR 12 | IST FEA Ret | IST SPR NC | SIL FEA Ret | SIL SPR 17 | NÜR FEA 9 | NÜR SPR 3 | HUN FEA 13 | HUN SPR 8 | VAL FEA 8 | VAL SPR 11 | SPA FEA 7 | SPA SPR 11 | MNZ FEA 17 | MNZ SPR 17 | ALG FEA 6 | ALG SPR 19 | 16th | 13 |
Complete GP2 Asia Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
| 2008 | DAMS | DUB1 FEA 13 | DUB1 SPR Ret | SEN FEA Ret | SEN SPR 15 | SEP FEA 5 | SEP SPR 1 | BHR FEA 3 | BHR SPR 1 | DUB2 FEA 20 | DUB2 SPR 14 | 6th | 22 | ||
| 2008–09 | DAMS | SHI FEA 2 | SHI SPR Ret | DUB FEA 1 | DUB SPR C | BHR1 FEA 1 | BHR1 SPR 6 | LSL FEA 4 | LSL SPR 18 | SEP FEA 2 | SEP SPR 7 | BHR2 FEA 4 | BHR2 SPR 5 | 1st | 56 |
Complete Formula One results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | WDC | Points |
| Panasonic Toyota Racing | Toyota TF109 | Toyota RVX-09 2.4 V8 | AUS | MAL | CHN | BHR | ESP | MON | TUR | GBR | GER | HUN | EUR | BEL | ITA | SIN | JPN PO | BRA 9 | ABU 6 | 18th | 3 | ||||
| BMW Sauber F1 Team | Sauber C29 | Ferrari 056 2.4 V8 | BHR Ret | AUS Ret | MAL Ret | CHN Ret | ESP 12 | MON Ret | TUR 10 | CAN Ret | EUR 7 | GBR 6 | GER 11 | HUN 9 | BEL 8 | ITA Ret | SIN Ret | JPN 7 | KOR 8 | BRA 10 | ABU 14 | 12th | 32 | ||
| Sauber F1 Team | Sauber C30 | Ferrari 056 2.4 V8 | AUS DSQ | MAL 7 | CHN 10 | TUR 10 | ESP 10 | MON 5 | CAN 7 | EUR 16 | GBR Ret | GER 9 | HUN 11 | BEL 12 | ITA Ret | SIN 14 | JPN 13 | KOR 15 | IND Ret | ABU 10 | BRA 9 | 12th | 30 | ||
| 2012 | Sauber F1 Team | Sauber C31 | Ferrari 056 2.4 V8 | AUS 6 | MAL Ret | CHN 10 | BHR 13 | ESP 5 | MON Ret | CAN 9 | EUR Ret | GBR 11 | GER 4 | HUN 18† | BEL 13 | ITA 9 | SIN 13 | JPN 3 | KOR Ret | IND 14 | ABU 6 | USA 14 | BRA 9 | 12th | 60 |
| 2014 | Caterham F1 Team | Caterham CT05 | Renault Energy F12014 1.6 V6 t | AUS Ret | MAL 13 | BHR 15 | CHN 18 | ESP Ret | MON 13 | CAN Ret | AUT 16 | GBR 15 | GER 16 | HUN Ret | BEL | ITA 17 | SIN DNS | JPN 19 | RUS Ret | USA | BRA | ABU Ret | 22nd | 0 |
Did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Rank | Points |
| 2013 | AF Corse | LMGTE Pro | Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 | Ferrari F142 4.5L V8 | SIL 2 | SPA 3 | LMS 4 | SÃO Ret | COA 3 | FUJ 9 | SHA 5 | BHR 3 | 7th | 98 | |
| 2016 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | LMP1 | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 | SIL 2 | SPA Ret | LMS 2 | NÜR 6 | MEX 3 | COA 3 | FUJ 1 | SHA 2 | BHR 5 | 3rd | 145 |
| 2017 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | LMP1 | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 | SIL 13 | SPA 2 | LMS Ret | NÜR 3 | MEX 4 | COA 4 | FUJ 2 | SHA 4 | BHR 4 | 5th | 103.5 |
| 2018–19 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | LMP1 | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 | SPA 2 | LMS 2 | SIL DSQ | FUJ 1 | SHA 1 | SEB 2 | SPA 6 | LMS 2 | 2nd | 157 | |
| 2019–20 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | LMP1 | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | Toyota 2.4 L Turbo V6 | SIL 1 | FUJ 2 | SHA 3 | BHR 1 | COA 3 | SPA | LMS | BHR | 1st* | 112* |
* Season still in progress.
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete Super Formula results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | DC | Points |
| 2015 | Kygnus Sunoco Team LeMans | SUZ 9 | OKA 2 | FUJ 10 | MOT 17 | AUT 3 | SUG 6 | SUZ 3 | SUZ 9 | 6th | 20 | |
| 2016 | Sunoco Team LeMans | SUZ 16 | OKA 18 | FUJ 10 | MOT 9 | OKA 18 | OKA 17 | SUG 17 | SUZ 9 | SUZ 7 | 17th | 1 |
| 2017 | KCMG | SUZ 9 | OKA 4 | OKA 5 | FUJ 15 | MOT 2 | AUT 7 | SUG 7 | SUZ C | SUZ C | 7th | 16.5 |
| 2018 | carrozzeria Team KCMG | SUZ 10 | AUT C | SUG 6 | FUJ 12 | MOT | OKA 2‡ | SUZ 13 | 10th | 11 | ||
| 2019 | carrozzeria Team KCMG | SUZ 9 | AUT 10 | SUG 2 | FUJ 6 | MOT 2 | OKA 18 | SUZ 12 | 6th | 19 |
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
Complete Super GT results
Complete Formula E results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Powertrain | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos | Points |
| 2017–18 | MS&AD Andretti Formula E | Spark SRT01-e | Andretti ATEC-03 | HKG 15 | HKG 17 | MRK | SCL | MEX | PDE | RME | PAR | BER | ZUR | NYC | NYC | 24th | 0 |