Top 5 Japanese F1 Drivers of all time

#4 Satoru Nakajima

Saturo Nakajima spent the majority of his F1 career at Lotus

Satoru Nakajima is a driver that might not seem too spectacular on surface, but if you dig a little deeper, you'll uncover that he was quick on his day, if not a little inconsistent. Nakajima became the first full-time Japanese Formula 1 driver when he joined Lotus for the 1987 season.

His unenviable task was competing against Ayrton Senna in the same car, and while he was a long way off Senna, Nakajima did score points, finishing as high as 4th at Silverstone. It didn't get any easier the following year either, as defending world champion Nelson Piquet joined Lotus for 1988.

Frankly, Nakajima was outclassed by Piquet that year, and the same was true in '89 as well, although the Japanese driver did score points in a midfield car, no mean feat when the points only went down to sixth place.

Nakajima switched to Tyrrell for 1990, as Lotus' financial troubles began to rear its ugly head. However, Nakajima was again joined at the team by one of the best drivers of the era, Jean Alesi. Alesi may have outscored Nakajima in 1990 - thanks in part to the Frenchman's incredible podium in Phoenix - but Satoru did score points in the same number of races as Alesi (3). 1991 was the end of the F1 road for Nakajima, an average year for Tyrrell against Stefano Modena doing little to convince team bosses that he was worth taking a punt on for '92.