Sakon Yamamoto
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Sakon Yamamoto (山本 左近 Yamamoto Sakon?, born on July 9, 1982 in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture) is a Japanese racing driver. He competed in 14 Formula One Grands Prix during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
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[edit] Before Formula One
Yamamoto began his racing career in 1994 at the Suzuka Circuit Racing School (Karting), and worked his way up through the ranks, to become the test/third driver for the Jordan Formula One team for one weekend (Japan) during the 2005 Formula One season.
[edit] Formula One
[edit] At Super Aguri F1
On June 8, 2006, Sakon Yamamoto joined the Super Aguri F1 team as their test driver and third driver on grand prix weekends, helping Takuma Sato and Franck Montagny in Friday's free practice sessions. Yamamoto replaced Montagny in the second team car at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. He did not enjoy a particularly successful start to his career, however, with a mechanical failure and a stalled engine restricting him to a total of one lap in his first two races. He also damaged one of the team's new SA06 chassis in a crash during Free Practice at the German Grand Prix. He then spun out of his third Grand Prix in Turkey, a disappointment after outqualifying Sato for the first time.
At the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Yamamoto had a major effect on the championship after suffering a tire delamination during qualifying, which consigned him to last place on the grid. Later on in the session, Fernando Alonso punctured a tyre on debris from this incident, an occurrence which would eventually result in the points leader being penalised for blocking Felipe Massa and dropping from fifth to tenth on the grid. During the race, Yamamoto suffered hydraulic problems and had to start from the pit lane, eventually retiring when it became terminal.
At the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix, however, he finished for the first time, albeit four laps down in sixteenth place. After the race, his enjoyment was spoiled when Nick Heidfeld admonished him for an incident on the last lap which had dropped the German from 4th to 7th place. However, Heidfeld had mistaken Yamamoto for Sato, the driver who caused the incident, and apologised for his mistake before the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix.[1]
Yamamoto finished the season strongly with three consecutive finishes, an upturn in form after retiring from his first four Grands Prix. He also set the seventh fastest lap and second fastest middle sector during the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix.[2] However, this was not enough to prevent him losing out to Anthony Davidson in the race for the second Super Aguri race drive in 2007. However, he remained as a test driver at Super Aguri.[3] This was combined with him competing in the 2007 GP2 Series season with BCN Competicion.[4]
[edit] At Spyker F1
With the departure of Christijan Albers from the Spyker F1 team after the 2007 British Grand Prix, a position on the grid became available. On 26 July 2007, after Markus Winkelhock filled the seat at the event-filled 2007 European Grand Prix, Spyker confirmed that they hired Yamamoto from Super Aguri for the remainder of the 2007 Formula One season by Spyker.[5] It has yet to be seen if he can do better than the racers that preceded him, but during his maiden Grand Prix at Hungary, he crashed out on lap 4. After that, he finished all the races being last, except on the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, where he finished ahead of Jarno Trulli, and in the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix where Giancarlo Fisichella crashed into him on the first laps. After the season ended, Yamamoto didn't participate in any other event for the team.
[edit] At Renault F1
It was announced on 4 February 2008 that Sakon would be one of the test drivers for the Renault F1 Team[6]. But according to the press release, looks like he will only drive the car in public demonstrations and not in circuit tests, considering Lucas Di Grassi and Romain Grosjean were announced at the launch of the Renault R28 while Sakon was announced a week later. Sanho Human Service sponsored Spyker F1 when Yamamoto was announced as a driver, and it was announced on the R28 launch that Sanho Human Service would sponsor Renault. Sanho being Yamamoto's personal sponsor.
[edit] Racing record
| Season | Series | Team Name | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Final Placing |
| 2001 | All-Japan Formula 3 | 117 (118) | 4th | ||||
| 2001 | British Formula 3 | Team Avanti | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24th |
| 2002 | German Formula 3 | ||||||
| 2003 | Formula 3 Euroseries | ||||||
| 2004 | All-Japan Formula 3 | 20 | 1 | 131 | 8th | ||
| 2005 | Super GT GT500 | Kondo Racing | 8 | 0 | 1 | 43 | 7th |
| 2005 | Formula Nippon | Kondo Racing | 18 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 10th |
| 2006 | Formula One | Super Aguri F1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26th |
| 2006 | Super GT GT500 | Nismo | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 21st |
| 2006 | Formula Nippon | Kondo Racing | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 | 11th |
| 2007 | Formula One | Spyker F1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24th |
| 2007 | GP2 | BCN Competicion | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30th |
[edit] Complete Formula One results
(key)
| Yr | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Jordan Grand Prix | Jordan EJ15B | Toyota RVX-05 3.0 V10 | AUS |
MAL |
BHR |
SMR |
ESP |
MON |
EUR |
CAN |
USA |
FRA |
GBR |
GER |
HUN |
TUR |
ITA |
BEL |
BRA |
JPN TD |
CHN |
- | - |
| 2006 | Super Aguri F1 | Super Aguri SA05 | Honda RA806E 2.4 V8 | BHR |
MAL |
AUS |
SMR |
EUR |
ESP |
MON |
GBR TD |
CAN TD |
USA TD |
FRA TD |
26th | 0 | ||||||||
| Super Aguri SA06 | GER Ret |
HUN Ret |
TUR Ret |
ITA Ret |
CHN 16 |
JPN 17 |
BRA 16 |
|||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Etihad Aldar Spyker F1 Team | Spyker F8-VII | Ferrari 056H 2.4 V8 | AUS |
MAL |
BHR |
ESP |
MON |
CAN |
USA |
FRA |
GBR |
EUR |
HUN Ret |
TUR 20 |
24th | 0 | |||||||
| Spyker F8-VIIB | ITA 20 |
BEL 17 |
JPN 12 |
CHN 17 |
BRA Ret |
[edit] GP2 Series Record
| Season | Team name | No. | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Final placing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | BCN Competicion | 18 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30th |
[edit] References
- ^ ITV.com article, retrieved October 7, 2006
- ^ Formula1.com data, retrieved October 23 2006
- ^ "Super Aguri names Sakon Yamamoto as second test driver", Grandprix.com, 2006-12-27. Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
- ^ "Yamamoto for BCN", Grandprix.com, 2007-01-18. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.
- ^ "Spyker confirm Yamamoto deal", Autosport.com, 2007-07-26. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.
- ^ "Yamamoto given Renault test drive", BBC.co.uk, 2008-02-04. Retrieved on 2008-02-08.
[edit] External links
- Sakon Yamamoto Official Website (Japanese)
- Sakon Yamamoto Racing Profile at the Formula Nippon Official Website
- Sakon Yamamoto profile and 2006 statistics
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