Will Kamui Kobayashi ever return to Formula 1?

Considered by many as the best Japanese driver Formula 1 has ever known, starting with Alan Jones, the 1980 world champion, Kamui Kobayashi ultimately found himself forced to give up his chances of securing a main driver position for the 2013 season after Sauber preferred Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Gutiérrez.

The Japanese had then made it a priority to secure a Formula 1 seat for 2014, adding that he had no interest in racing in other categories. However, some are questioning the chances of ever seeing Kamui Kobayashi behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car again, starting with Japanese journalist Kunio Shibata in the magazine GPX: Kamui is invisible to the public and is not in the newspapers. Until December, his management firmly believed they could find him a test driver spot in February, but obviously, nothing happened. The Jerez tests took place without him. […] Kamui wanted to focus all his efforts on F1, and he was supposedly in negotiations with Force India, but if anything had come of it, he would have been in the car at Jerez. This worries me. Fans fear that once Kamui is out of Formula 1, he might not be able to return. I share this fear. The history of Grand Prix racing has often shown how difficult it is to come back.

At a time when some teams are forced, due to their financial situation and the economic model of Formula 1, to streamline their budget and rely on pay drivers, the Japanese driver clearly suffered from the lack of investment from Japanese sponsors, which even surprised Sauber: « When Kamui joined us, he had no sponsors, nothing, but we were convinced of his talent and it was, for us, the right choice, » explains Monisha Kaltenborn, director of the Swiss team, in an interview with the official Formula 1 website. « He delivered solid performances with us. His podium in Suzuka was such an emotional story, he stirred the crowd in a way I had never seen before. He was a team player, he contributed so much to the team spirit, so it’s astonishing that such a likeable person couldn’t secure sponsors in a country like Japan where motorsports are so beloved. It’s one of those warnings that tell us something needs to change when you have a race in your country and a local hero who helps Formula 1 succeed there, » the Austrian is surprised while specifying that Sauber had promised nothing to the Japanese driver for 2013.

While awaiting a possible return to Formula 1, Kobayashi could find refuge in Endurance racing as he is participating in a test session organized on the Spanish Motorland Aragon circuit by the Italian team AF Corse. If successful, this test could allow the Japanese driver to participate in the World Endurance Championship in the GTE Pro category, driving a Ferrari 458 Italia.