Shinji Nakano (中野 信治, born April 1, 1971 in Osaka, Japan[1]) is a former F1 racing driver from Japan.
His father, Tsuneharu was also a racing driver who competed in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship.
Racing career[]
Pre Formula One Career[]
| 1984-'88: | Karting, several Japanese titles. |
| 1989: | 7th in Japanese Formula 3 championship |
| 1990: | European Formula Opel Lotus Championship, 1 victory |
| 1991: | Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries |
| 1992: | Japanese Formula 3 and Formula 3000 championship |
| 1993-'94: | Japanese Formula 3 championship |
| 1995-'96: | Japanese Formula 3000 championship |
Formula One Career[]
Nakano started his Formula One racing career for the Prost Grand Prix team, owned by legendary four times Formula One World Champion Alain Prost.
Making his début at the 1997 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, he finished 7th with just two laps behind the race winner David Coulthard, and ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen who got brake problems on lap 55.
The 1997 season saw him score two world championship points with two 6th place finishes in Canada and Hungary. With his place at the Prost team, a switch to Peugeot engines saw the French outfit drop Nakano in favour of Jarno Trulli and Olivier Panis. However, Nakano was able to pick up a ride at Minardi for the 1998 season.
Unsurprisingly, Nakano struggled in the underpowered and underfinanced Italian team. He failed to score any points in 1998 and left from Formula One racing for good at his home Grand Prix at Suzuka, Japan, having contested a total of 33 Grands Prix.
He spent 1999 as an occasional test driver for the Jordan team, which also used Mugen-Honda engines.
After Formula One[]
After Formula One, Nakano went to race in Champ Car for Walker Racing and Fernandez Racing. He made 56 starts from 2000 to 2002 with a best points finish of 17th in 2002 and a best race result of 4th at the 2002 Molson Indy Toronto. He also started 15th in the 2003 Indianapolis 500 for Beck Motorsports, finishing 14th. He competed in the 2006 and 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans races and returned to the event in 2011 with Oak Racing.
Helmet[]
Nakano's helmet was black with a black circle on the top surrounded by a white halo, with a red and silver flame design surrounding the visor and a black and silver checkered flag behind of it, in CART he changed the black for white, the halo became blue, the black circle became red, the checkered flag disappeared and the flame became red with blue outline. in Le Mans, he added more flames in the point where the checkered flag was.
Formula One Career Record[]
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Pts. | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 |  Dome Company
|
Dome-Mugen-Honda | Team Pre-Entry Test Driver | ||
 Ligier Gauloises Blondes
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Ligier-Mugen-Honda | F1 Indoor Trophy only | |||
| 1997 | Prost Gauloises Blondes
|
Prost-Mugen-Honda | 2 | 18th | Report |
| 1998 |  Fondmetal Minardi Team
|
Minardi-Ford | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1999 |  Benson & Hedges Jordan
|
Jordan-Mugen-Honda | Test Driver | ||
Statistics[]
| Entries | 33 |
| Starts | 33 |
| Pole Positions | 0 |
| Race Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Fastest Laps | 0 |
| Points | 2 |
| Laps Raced | 1493 |
| Distance Raced | 7,045 km (4,378 mi) |
Career Results[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pts | Pos | ||||||
| 1997 | 
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2 | 18th | ||||||
| 7th | 14th | Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 6th | Ret | 11th | 7th | 6th | Ret | 11th | Ret | Ret | Ret | 10th | |||||||||
| 1998 |
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0 | NC | |||||||
| Ret | Ret | 13th | Ret | 14th | 9th | 7th | 17th | 8th | 11th | Ret | 15th | 8th | Ret | 15th | Ret | ||||||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
External links[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Shinji Nakano. Manipe F1. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
| V T E | Minardi | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Former Drivers Martini · De Cesaris · Campos · Nannini · Pérez-Sala · Barilla · Morbidelli · Moreno · Zanardi · Gounon · Barbazza · Alboreto · Lamy · Badoer · Fisichella · Marques · Lavaggi · Trulli · Katayama · Nakano · Tuero · Sarrazin · Gené · Mazzacane · Yoong · Alonso · Davidson · Webber · Wilson · Kiesa · Verstappen · Bruni · Baumgartner · Albers · Friesacher · Doornbos | |||
| Cars M185/M185B · M186 · M187 · M188/M188B · M189 · M190 · M191/M191B · M192 · M193/M193B · M194 · M195/M195B · M197 · M198 · M01 · M02 · PS01/PS01B · PS02 · PS03 · PS04 · PS04B · PS05 | |||
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