Opinion: Jamie Klein

Giuliano Alesi found the European single-seater path limited his chances to race. Now he’s flourishing, and winning, in the freer atmosphere of Japan

“When you don’t have experience, good teams in Europe won’t risk taking you”

There was a nice piece of historical symmetry to Giuliano Alesi’s unexpected victory at a rainsoaked Autopolis last weekend in just his second Super Formula start. Exactly a decade earlier, Kazuki Nakajima – the driver Alesi is standing in for – had done the same thing: he took a first win at only the second time of asking, with TOM’S at Autopolis in the wet.

The difference is, of course, that Nakajima was already a veteran rebuilding his career in Japan after seeing his Formula 1 dreams crumble as a result of Toyota’s withdrawal from the championship. Alesi, on the other hand, was the youngest driver in the field at Autopolis, and one with a relatively modest CV, the highlights of which are four sprint race wins across three seasons of GP3 and a smattering of minor F2 points finishes. Indeed, TOM’S boss Nobuhide Tachi admitted in his post-race press conference at Autopolis that he wasn’t sure whether Alesi was ready for a full-time Super Formula gig as early as this year. Instead he chose to offer him the chance to prove himself first in Super Formula Lights (what used to be known, until the end of 2019, as All-japan Formula 3).

But Nakajima’s absence from the Suzuka and Autopolis rounds owing to his World Endurance Championship commitments with Toyota and Japan’s strict quarantine rules, which also prevent any high-profile outsiders from entering the country, gave TOM’S little choice but to give Alesi a go in the big league. Alesi’s triumph prompted Tachi to say:“i thought it would take him a while to grow, so I wanted to take the time to nurture him from Super Formula Lights, but I feel like it’s OK [for him to race in Super Formula full-time] soon. Now I’m wondering what to do about Kazuki…”

There was talk over the winter in the paddock that Alesi might move directly to Super Formula, given Nick Cassidy’s departure from the series and Nakajima’s likely WEC scheduling headaches. But when asked if his Autopolis win makes him wish he had found a way to jump into the senior category, Alesi’s response was an interesting one.“i don’t think I would have been as ready as I am today if I didn’t do Super Formula Lights,”he said.“coming from F2, the natural objective is to stay at the same level in terms of power. But the people I asked didn’t recommend starting from Super Formula because there’s not a lot of mileage, so in terms of learning it wouldn’t have been the best choice.

“I was given the opportunity to do Super Formula Lights with TOM’S, so I took it and decided to treat this year as a learning year, because I’ve only ever been in categories where you don’t have a lot of mileage, and I’ve never done more than one championship in a year. I think that really impacted my growth as a driver and my development. Almost all of the young drivers in Formula 1, or the top drivers in F2, they have all done a huge amount of testing, and raced in at least two championships a season.

When you have that it really helps you grow as a driver, and that really had an impact when I arrived in F2.”

Alesi certainly raises an interesting point. By the time he reached F2 in 2019, he had only done four seasons in car racing up to that point, one in French F4 (21 races) and three in GP3 (a total of 48 races). Throw in four MRF Challenge races before making his GP3 debut in 2016, and that gives a pre-f2 total of 73 races in cars. By comparison, George Russell had done 120 races,

Lando Norris 142 and Mick Schumacher 146 before making their respective F2 bows, with all of them having raced in

European Formula 3. That’s not to make excuses for Alesi’s lack of results but, combined with his Autopolis success, it certainly puts a fresh perspective on his record in Europe.

“Even before F3, those guys were doing two championships a season, in F4, Formula Renault…”he said.“when you do that, they still call you a rookie when you arrive in F2 but you’ve almost got as much mileage as Lewis Hamilton, compared to someone like me, who did seven race weekends of French F4 and then eight race weekends of GP3 for three years. It doesn’t put you in a good situation in terms of finding a good team. When you don’t have experience, good teams in Europe will never risk taking you, unless you have an unlimited budget or you are managed by one of the F1 team managers. I think coming to Japan was the best choice I could have made, and it’s easy to say now, but I should have come here sooner. I don’t think I should have even done F2.”

How many more Super Formula races Alesi will do this season depends on the vagaries of Nakajima’s WEC schedule, but for now the 21-year-old is simply grateful even to be able to race in Super Formula Lights after running out of opportunities in the F2 paddock.“after the race, I told [Tachi] he’s like my Japanese father, because he took me under his wing,”said Alesi. “He took a risk because my results were not good in Europe. He believed in me when nobody else did, except my family and friends. For that I’ll always be grateful.”