Kamui Kobayashi

Kamui Kobayashi (小林可夢偉) is a Japanese racing driver and motorsport executive, currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota and in Super Formula for KCMG. Kobayashi competed in Formula One from to. In endurance racing, Kobayashi has won two FIA World Endurance Championship titles, and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in, all with Toyota; he is also a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019 and 2020 with WTR. Since 2022, Kobayashi has served as team principal of Toyota in WEC, winning three consecutive World Manufacturers' Championship titles from 2022 to 2024. He also serves as team principal for Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe for their FIA World Endurance Championship team. Kobayashi previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the GP2 Asia Series. He became champion of the FIA World Endurance Championship alongside co-drivers Mike Conway and José María López in the 2019–20 season and in 2021, where he also won the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. Kobayashi is the third FIA world champion from Japan after Toshi Arai and Kazuki Nakajima, and became the third Asian-born driver after countrymen Aguri Suzuki and Takuma Satō to score a Formula One podium finish at the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix.

Junior single-seater career

Early years

Kobayashi was born in Amagasaki in Hyōgo Prefecture, 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 Kōhei 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 (FIA) 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 Sauber for the 2010 season. Despite the team having been sold by BMW back to founder Peter Sauber after the 2009 season, and no longer using BMW components, the team was still named BMW Sauber as it had been known for the past four seasons. 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 [F1 driver] 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 (renamed from BMW Sauber to Sauber F1 Team) 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 then-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.

WEC debut (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 eight 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

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 and WEC split

Super Formula and Super GT (2015–)

Super Formula

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. Kobayashi moved to KCMG at the start of the 2017 season. Kobayashi stayed in the team for over seven years, where he clinched 4 podiums of second place. But for 2020, and 2021 he did not compete full time as he has clashed race where he prioritize WEC, his replacement were Yuichi Nakayama for 2020, and Kazuto Kotaka for 2021.

Super GT

Kobayashi made his one off debut in Super GT GT500 class with Racing Project Bandoh in 2017. Kobayashi made full season debut in 2018, as he raced with Team SARD alongside former F1 driver and the series champion Heiki Kovalainen.

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. In 2017 he achieved the current lap record at the Circuit de la Sarthe with a lap time of 3:14.791. Kobayashi won the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans from pole after numerous attempts, alongside Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez. Kobayashi is the fourth Japanese driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the first being Masanori Sekiya, and is only the second to do so for a Japanese manufacturer. In December 2021, Toyota announced that Kobayashi would succeed Hisatake Murata as team principal of the manufacturer's WEC programme, combining the management position with his role as a driver for the team.

NASCAR (2023)

On 7 June 2023, it was announced that Kobayashi would make his debut in the NASCAR Cup Series driving the No. 67 Toyota Camry for 23XI Racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. At Indy, he finished 33rd. In 2024, Kobayashi would return to the NASCAR Cup Series and race again for 23XI Racing at Circuit of the Americas for the 2024 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, he finished 29th.

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(s)". In April 2013, he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Sport Award at The Asian Awards in London.

Racing record