Early career

Suzuki began racing karts in 1972, at the age of 12. In 1978 he won the Japanese kart championship and in 1979 made his debut in the Japanese Formula Three (All-Japan F3) championship. He continued in karting and in 1981 was again Japanese Kart Champion. In 1983 he finished second in the All-Japan F3 series, driving a Hayashi-Toyota. He then turned to touring car racing and, driving for the Nissan factory team won the Japanese title in 1986. The same year he made his debut in Japanese F2 and drove in the Le Mans 24 Hours. In 1987 he finished runner-up in the Japanese F3000 series, winning one race (Suzuka). In 1988, driving a March-Yamaha he won the title with three wins (Fuji, Nishi-Nippon and Suzuka).

Formula One career

In 1988, Suzuki raced in European F3000 with Footwork, before he debuted in Formula One on October 30 at his home race, replacing the ill Yannick Dalmas in the Larrousse-Lola. Zakspeed, who were using Yamaha engines, hired Suzuki for 1989, but he failed to pre-qualify in all 16 races.

Suzuki demonstrates his Larrousse-Lola 90 at Suzuka in 2012 - the scene of his podium finish 22 years earlier.

For 1990 and 1991, he drove again for Larrousse. He finished sixth three times, before finishing third at Suzuka – the first ever podium for an Asian driver in F1. He also set the second-fastest lap.

In 1992 and 1993, he was at Footwork alongside Michele Alboreto and then Derek Warwick, but both usually outperformed him. He shared a Ligier with Martin Brundle in 1995, but only scored one point in his races, and was criticised by Mika Salo after the two collided in Buenos Aires. A massive crash in practice for the 1995 Japanese Grand Prix caused a neck injury which saw him miss the race,^[1] and he immediately announced his retirement.

Suzuki scored a total of eight championship points in F1. At the time he retired, he was the second most successful Japanese F1 driver after Satoru Nakajima, but Takuma Sato and Kamui Kobayashi have since passed them both.

After Formula One

Suzuki later raced in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, and remained involved in Japanese driver development. In 2000, with long-term sponsor Autobacs, he ran Autobacs Racing Team Aguri, which won the GT300 title in 2002, and expanded to Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters a season later. He also launched Super Aguri Fernandez Racing with Adrian Fernandez, running cars in the Indy Racing League.

Takuma Sato driving for Super Aguri F1 at the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix.

From 2006 Suzuki ran the Super Aguri F1 Formula One team with the backing of Honda. He put his new team together in four and half months from his initial announcement on 1 November 2005.^[2] The team's initial entry was rejected by the FIA after they failed to secure financial guarantees before the entry deadline, and their acceptance was not formally confirmed until 26 January 2006.^[3] The team made its debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 12 March 2006. On 6 May 2008, after competing in the opening four races of the season, the team withdrew from Formula One due to financial problems.^[4]

Career summary

Japanese Top Formula Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Macau Grand Prix results

Year	Team	Chassis/Engine	Qualifying	Race1	Race2	Overall ranking
1985	Nismo	Ralt・Nissan	28th	19	DNF	DNF

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1986	Nissan Motorsports	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Keiji Matsumoto	Nissan R86V	C1	64	DNF	DNF
1987	Nissan Motorsports	Masahiro Hasemi Takao Wada	Nissan 87E	C1	117	DNF	DNF
1988	Nissan Motorsports	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Takao Wada	Nissan (March) R88C	C1	286	DNF	DNF
1990	Toyota Team TOM'S	Johnny Dumfries Roberto Ravaglia	Toyota 90C-V	C1	64	DNF	DNF
1996	NISMO	Masahiko Kageyama Masahiko Kondo	Nissan Skyline GT-R LM	GT1	209	DNF	DNF
1997	Nissan Motorsports TWR	Riccardo Patrese Eric van de Poele	Nissan R390 GT1	GT1	121	DNF	DNF
1998	Nissan Motorsports TWR	Kazuyoshi Hoshino Masahiko Kageyama	Nissan R390 GT1	GT1	347	3rd	3rd
1999	Nissan Motorsports	Masami Kageyama Eric van de Poele	Nissan R391	LMP	0	DNS	DNS

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship (1994-) results

Complete JGTC results

(key)