2021 Super Formula Championship

The 2021 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-ninth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the ninth under the moniker of Super Formula. Naoki Yamamoto entered the 2021 season as the defending drivers' champion.

Tomoki Nojiri took his first drivers' championship at the penultimate round at Motegi, while Team Impul took their first teams' championship since 2010 at the season finale.

Teams and drivers
Team No. Driver Engine Rounds
TCS Nakajima Racing 1 Naoki Yamamoto[1] Honda All
64 Toshiki Oyu[2] All
Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 5 Nirei Fukuzumi[2] All
6 Ukyo Sasahara[3] 1–2
Tadasuke Makino[1] 3–7
Drago Corse with ThreeBond[4] 12 Tatiana Calderón[1] 1–2, 6–7
Koudai Tsukakoshi[5] 3–5
Red Bull Mugen Team Goh 15 Hiroki Otsu[6] All
Team Mugen[2] 16 Tomoki Nojiri[2] All
B-Max Racing[2] 51 Nobuharu Matsushita[7] 2–7
Kondō Racing 3 Kenta Yamashita[8] Toyota All
4 Yuichi Nakayama[3] 1–5
Sacha Fenestraz[8] 6–7
carrozzeria Team KCMG 7 Kazuto Kotaka[3] 1–5, 7
Kamui Kobayashi[8] 6
18 Yuji Kunimoto[8] All
NTT Communications ROOKIE 14 Kazuya Oshima[8] All
carenex Team Impul 19 Yuhi Sekiguchi[8] All
20 Ryō Hirakawa[8] 1–3, 5–7
Mitsunori Takaboshi[9] 4
Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S 36 Kazuki Nakajima[8] 1, 6
Giuliano Alesi[10] 2–5, 7
37 Ritomo Miyata[8] All
P.mu/cerumo・INGING 38 Sho Tsuboi[8] All
39 Sena Sakaguchi[8] All
  • Yves Baltas was scheduled to compete for B-Max Racing, but did not enter any rounds.[11]

Driver changes
  • Three-time and defending series champion Naoki Yamamoto moved to TCS Nakajima Racing after spending two seasons with Dandelion Racing. This was Yamamoto's first time driving for Nakajima Racing since his rookie season in 2010.[2]
  • Tadasuke Makino moved to DoCoMo Team Dandelion Racing after two seasons with Nakajima Racing.[2]
  • Reigning Super Formula Lights champion Ritomo Miyata drove full-time for Vantelin Team TOM's, after running two races in 2020 in relief of Kazuki Nakajima.[8]
  • Reigning Formula Regional Japanese Champion Sena Sakaguchi drove full-time for P.mu/Cerumo-INGING, after appearing in the 2020 Okayama round in relief of Kenta Yamashita.[8]
  • Two-time series champion Hiroaki Ishiura has retired from the series.
  • 2019 series champion Nick Cassidy has exited the series, following his move to the FIA Formula E World Championship with Envision Virgin Racing.

In-season changes

Illness:

Visa issues:

International protocols:
Drivers who participated in 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship races or testing sessions missed rounds because of Japanese 14-day quarantine rules. Date clashes were with the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on 1 May, which clashed with Suzuka (25 April) and Autopolis (16 May), the 8 Hours of Portimão, which clashed with Sugo (19 June), and the 8 Hours of Bahrain, which clashes with the Suzuka date on 31 October.

Other
  • Nobuharu Matsushita: joined B-Max Racing from the second round at Suzuka. He was initially denied an engine lease from Honda, after signing a factory racing contract with Nissan in the Super GT Series. This prevented him from racing in the opening round at Fuji. Honda would reverse their decision after Masaya Nagai replaced Hiroshi Shimizu as the Director of Motorsport at Honda.[12]

Race calendar

The provisional calendar was announced on 6 August 2020. After heavy disruptions to the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the series returned to a more traditional schedule, with Suzuka Circuit hosting the season finale as it was usual.[13] On 12 April 2021, the organisation announced the cancellation of the Okayama round, which was due to be held in the first week of October. Instead, a second round at Motegi was confirmed.[14]

Round Circuit Date
1 Fuji Speedway 4 April
2 Suzuka International Racing Course 25 April
3 Autopolis 16 May
4 Sportsland SUGO 20 June
5 Twin Ring Motegi 29 August
6 17 October
7 Suzuka International Racing Course 31 October

Results

Season summary
Round Circuit Pole Position Fastest Lap Winning driver Winning team
1 Fuji Speedway Tomoki Nojiri Toshiki Oyu Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
2 Suzuka International Racing Course Nirei Fukuzumi Hiroki Otsu Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
3 Autopolis Giuliano Alesi Tomoki Nojiri Giuliano Alesi Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S
4 Sportsland SUGO Yuhi Sekiguchi Tomoki Nojiri Nirei Fukuzumi Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
5 Twin Ring Motegi Tomoki Nojiri Yuhi Sekiguchi Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
6 Twin Ring Motegi Hiroki Otsu Toshiki Oyu Hiroki Otsu Red Bull Mugen Team Goh
7 Suzuka International Racing Course Nobuharu Matsushita Tomoki Nojiri Nirei Fukuzumi Docomo Team Dandelion Racing

Championship standings
Race points
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th 
Points 20 15 11 8 6 5 4 3 2 1
Qualifying points
Position  1st   2nd   3rd 
Points 3 2 1

Overall
Pos Driver FUJ SUZ1 AUT[lower-alpha 1] SUG MOT MOT2 SUZ2 Points
1 Tomoki Nojiri 11 12 5 6 11 53 3 86
2 Nirei Fukuzumi 3 Ret1 13 1 Ret 12 13 55
3 Yuhi Sekiguchi 17† 4 10 31 22 4 4 55
4 Ryō Hirakawa 4 2 Ret 4 Ret 2 46
5 Toshiki Oyu 22 103 7 2 6 14 112 41
6 Hiroki Otsu 16 5 6 10 10 11 5 38.5
7 Sena Sakaguchi 9 11 23 83 5 2 13 35.5
8 Nobuharu Matsushita 13 3 4 33 6 121 33.5
9 Tadasuke Makino 14 52 7 3 10 24
10 Ritomo Miyata 7 6 42 7 8 9 14 22
11 Giuliano Alesi 9 11 9 16 8 20
12 Ukyo Sasahara 53 3 18
13 Naoki Yamamoto 6 8 9 12 12 Ret2 9 13
14 Kenta Yamashita 12 12 11 14 15 8 6 8
15 Sho Tsuboi Ret 7 Ret 15 9 Ret 16 6
16 Kazuki Nakajima 11 7 4
17 Sacha Fenestraz 13 7 4
18 Yuji Kunimoto 8 Ret Ret 13 11 Ret 15 3
19 Kazuya Oshima 10 15 8 18 Ret 11 17 2.5
20 Kamui Kobayashi 10 1
21 Mitsunori Takaboshi 11 0
22 Koudai Tsukakoshi 12 16 Ret 0
23 Yuichi Nakayama 14 14 15 Ret 13 0
24 Tatiana Calderón 13 17 Ret 19 0
25 Kazuto Kotaka 15 16 16† 17 14 18 0
Pos Driver FUJ SUZ1 AUT SUG MOT MOT2 SUZ2 Points

Teams' championship
Pos Team No. FUJ SUZ1 AUT[lower-alpha 1] SUG MOT MOT2 SUZ2 Points
1 carenex Team Impul 19 17† 4 10 3 2 4 4 88
20 4 2 Ret 11 4 Ret 2
2 Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 5 3 Ret 13 1 Ret 12 1 86
6 5 3 14 5 7 3 10
3 Team Mugen 16 1 1 5 6 1 5 3 77
4 TCS Nakajima Racing 1 6 8 9 12 12 Ret 9 47
64 2 10 7 2 6 14 11
5 P.mu/cerumo・INGING 38 Ret 7 Ret 15 9 Ret 16 37.5
39 9 11 2 8 5 2 13
6 Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S 36 11 9 1 9 16 7 8 37
37 7 6 4 7 8 9 14
7 Red Bull Mugen Team Goh 15 16 5 6 10 10 1 5 35.5
8 B-Max Racing 51 13 3 4 3 6 12 29.5
9 Kondō Racing 3 12 12 11 14 15 8 6 12
4 14 14 15 Ret 13 13 7
10 carrozzeria Team KCMG 7 15 16 16† 17 14 10 18 4
18 8 Ret Ret 13 11 Ret 15
11 NTT communications ROOKIE 14 10 15 8 18 Ret 11 17 2.5
12 Drago Corse with ThreeBond 12 13 17 12 16 Ret Ret 19 0
Pos Driver FUJ SUZ1 AUT SUG MOT MOT2 SUZ2 Points

Notes
  1. The race was stopped due to bad weather conditions after less than 75% of laps were completed. Therefore, half points were awarded.

References
  1. "Honda junior Ren Sato gets Super Formula Lights and Super GT seats".{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. "2021 Season Honda Driver Line-Up". superformula.net. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  3. "Kamui Kobayashi among absentees for Super Formula opener". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
  4. "Michigami's Drago Corse squad returns to Super Formula grid". motorsport.com. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  5. "2020 Rd.3 Entry List | Rd.3 Autopolis | Race Calendar 2021 | SUPER FORMULA Official Website". superformula.net. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  6. "Otsu completes Mugen Super Formula line-up". Motorsport.com. 18 February 2021.
  7. "B-Max Racing Teamが松下信治起用 第2戦より参戦決定". www.superformula.net (in Japanese). 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  8. "Toyota names Super Formula drivers for 2021 season". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
  9. "Hirakawa to Miss Rd. 4 at SUGO". www.superformula.net. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  10. "Alesi named as Nakajima's Suzuka Super Formula replacement". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  11. "Baltas named on Super Formula entry list, set to miss Fuji". www.motorsport.com. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  12. "Super Formula: Honda boss explains Nobuharu Matsushita saga". us.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  13. "Super Formula unveils seven-round 2021 calendar". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  14. "Regarding the venue and schedule of the 6th round of the 2021 All Japan Super Formula Championship". www.superformula.net (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-04-12.
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