Editorial: The lesser known

Although he made a flawless Formula One debut, there isn't much press attention for Kazuki Nakajima. The young Williams driver however has been praised by Sir Frank Williams on several occasions and it seems that he has already secured his race seat with the team for 2009.

Just like most Formula One drivers, Kazuki made his racing debut in Karting. He made his debut in 1996 and three year laters he was crowned Suzuka Formula ICA Karting champion. After winning his first championship, the young Japanese was picked up by Toyota's Young Drivers Program.

By joining Toyota, Nakajima followed a different path than his father who had raced for Honda during his career. Like this, the youngster tried to protect himself against accusations that his father promoted his career.

In 2002, Kazuki started racing in Formula Toyota, in which he became champion only one year later. In 2004, he joined the Japanese Formula Three where he won two races.

The young driver remained in the series during the 2005 season and finished second that year. Nakajima moved up to the Formula Three Euroseries in 2006 where he competed against colleague Sebastian Vettel.

In 2007, it was time for Kazuki to move up to Formula One. Nakajima was named as one of the Williams F1 Team test drivers. In the meantime he joined the DAMS Team in the GP2 series. Although he didn't win any races, Nakajima finished the season in fifth position and was top rookie of the series.

In October 2007, Kazuki got the opportunity to race for the Williams team during the final race of the season in Brazil and this after the retirement of Alexander Wurz. The young Japanese did a marvellous job by finishing the race in 10th position and by putting down the fifth fastest lap time.

Unfortunately, he also made a rookie mistake by hitting two of his mechanics during the first pit stop. Luckily, none of the two was badly injured.

Patrick Head was very satisfied with Nakajima's first race, despite the little incident. “Kazuki drove well on his debut. His lap times were impressive and he's set a marker for a future in Formula One."

And Nakajima received that future in Formula One as he was confirmed as Nico Rosberg's team mate for the 2008 season.

Just like his first race at Brazil, Nakajima managed to complete a good race at Melbourne. He immediately finished sixth and collected his first three championship points. In Spain, he collected another two points just like in Monaco. During the British Grand Prix last week, he scored another point by finishing the race in 8th position.

As we're half-way the 2008 season, Kazuki Nakajima already scored 8 points and equals his team mate in the championship standings. Although he is the lesser known of the pack, Nakajima is certainly a driver to keep an eye on.