These days if I screw up something or if results don’t follow, I’m calm about it. In any sport, you don’t make new discoveries unless you challenge your limits by trying, by attacking. Takuma Sato (former F1 driver, current Ind圜ar driver) famously said, “No attack, no chance.” I couldn't agree more. “Make mistakes at the start and learn quickly from them.” That was my process. In F3 (2019) and F2 (2020), I wasn’t nervous to miss out on points at the start of the season. I learned how to take risks, make mistakes and learn from those errors. Not making it in that final trial made me realize that I was far from perfect. I didn’t take risks and I wasn’t sure how to improve. Back then I was also scared of making mistakes. I had time to practice my starts but I didn’t. Until I experienced that failed trial, I’d always had the attitude that “everything will work out in the end.” Even before I made a false start at the final trials, I knew my starts weren’t as good as they could be. The biggest change I made was on the mental front. The following year, I was selected as one of the drivers for the Honda Formula Dream Project and became the overall champion.Īll of this came from that disappointment at the final trials. That year, I finished third overall in the F4 Japanese Championship. In 2017, I started in F4, not as part of the development program but as part of Suzuka Racing School. ![]() Even though I had no chance to win, I gave it my best shot to hang on to the front group. I didn’t want Nakajima-san to see me as a quitter. At the last corner, through the visor I saw Satoru Nakajima standing behind the chicane. He’d seen me racing at the final corner.Īfter a false start, I was rattled but I did my best so I wouldn’t regret my performance. This came about because Satoru Nakajima, the former Formula 1 driver, was the head of the school there. We might be able to recruit you for one of the two spots available for Suzuka Racing School instead.” However, there are four Honda spots available in Formula 4. “You can’t race next year as part of Honda’s development program. One of the judges, the director of Honda F4, said to me…. I was so mortified that I didn’t even want to talk to my parents. Even though I was the youngest, I was confident I’d win. Ever since I started racing properly, this was the first time I’d experienced such a shock. I was so disappointed with myself I cried on the train ride home. I was so ashamed, so embarrassed, that I lost my will to race. As a penalty, I was made to run the pit road slowly and rejoin the field. My fingers holding the steering wheel were frozen … my usual self was nowhere to be seen. At the final trials, before the race, I was so nervous my whole body tensed up. What awaited me was the worst-case scenario.īack then, my mental game was poor. If I’m not good enough to compete at the highest level, then I’d rather not continue, I’m not interested in leading a half-arsed life in racing.” I’m not interested in joining other development programs or pursuing non-formula racing: that’s not me. If I can’t have a good result here or if I can’t attract the judges’ attention, there’s no point continuing on with racing. Unless I really screwed up in the final trials, I was confident I could keep my top position. Until the final trials, I had some solid results up my sleeve and, based on overall points, I was coming in first or second overall. I also had my maiden win at the Super FJ Japan Challenge. That same year, I was the youngest ever to have a podium finish in the Formula debut race, where I had been given a one-off spot to compete. In all fairness, I’d been karting since I was four years old and had also had some good results. Competing with all of them, I had no idea if I’d be able to make it. That year at the trials, there were not only guys who had already competed in F4 but also drivers who had competed overseas and returned to Japan. Now that I’m in F1, when I look back … that final trial was the turning point in my racing career. If I failed, I was going to quit racing altogether. If I made the selection, I’d be competing in the domestic F4 competition the following year. ![]() I was at the final trials for Honda Formula Dream Project (Honda’s driver development program). Six years ago I was only 16, a fresh-faced student at the Suzuka Circuit Racing School. The very last time I cried from being disappointed with myself…. This piece was originally published in Japanese in 2021.
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