Aguri Suzuki is the first Japanese driver to finish on the podium in F1.

Aguri Suzuki went down in Formula 1 history as the first Japanese driver to reach the podium, a fact all the more remarkable considering it all happened at his home track in Suzuka. On October 21, 1990, Aguri, driving for the French team Larrousse, took 3rd place in the Japanese Grand Prix driving a Lola 90 with a Lamborghini V12 engine.

He is also known for briefly managing his own team, Super Aguri, in the 2000s. In an interview on the championship’s official website, the 63-year-old motorsport veteran recalled the best moments of his career.

“My dad had a kart, I had a kart track near our house and I started racing there for fun,” Suzuki said. – So I became interested in motor racing, I wanted to participate and managed to win the Japanese championship. Then I switched to Formula 3, but I didn’t achieve much results there. And then Nissan gave me the opportunity to participate in touring.”

Aguri gradually gained experience, his results grew, he became twice Japanese vice-champion in F3 and eventually found his way to the national Formula 3000, now known as Super Formula. In 1988 Suzuki won the title, and this is how he talks about the events that took place that year: “I had to go to Suzuka to do television commentary for the Japanese Grand Prix. But in the week leading up to that race, Gerard Larrousse called me and said that their driver Yannick Dalmas would not be able to start due to illness.

“Do you want to participate in the race?” – he asked, and that’s why I decided to participate in the Japanese Grand Prix as part of the Larrousse team.”

During his debut weekend, Aguri set the 20th fastest time in qualifying and took 16th place in the race, after which he was invited to the German team Zakspeed in 1989. But it was so weak that Suzuki failed to reach preliminary qualifying in all 16 stages of the season, and accordingly was not allowed to participate in the qualifications and races. The fact is that at that time there were 20 teams in the championship and only the 26 fastest cars took part in the Grand Prix.

It is very logical that Suzuki moved to Larrousse the following year, 1990, and the situation began to change for the better: “When I got behind the wheel of their car, I had the feeling that I could show good results. That season was very important for me, because it was decided whether I could continue my career in Formula 1.

By mid-1990 the balance of the car had improved and after scoring points in Britain and Spain I returned to Japan in good form. The car worked well from the start and I knew the Suzuka circuit very well. I think everything went well then. I knew I had to show results and although there were several incidents in the race, everything went well for me and I was able to get on the podium. I was the first rider from Asia to do this, so I was very happy, and for me that race was a very important event.”

And while this remained the only notable achievement in Aguri Suzuki’s career, another Japanese rider, Takuma Sato, was able to repeat it just 14 years later. He drove for the BAR team and finished third in the 2004 American Grand Prix in Indianapolis. . And the third in 2012 was Kamui Kobayashi, who took third place in Suzuka with a Sauber car.

By the way, it was Sato who then became the rider who managed to open the scoring for the points earned by the Super Aguri team in 2007, but that’s another story.