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
Engine Team No. Driver Rounds
Honda Japan TCS Nakajima Racing 1 Japan Naoki Yamamoto[1] All
64 Japan Toshiki Oyu[2] All
Japan Docomo Team Dandelion Racing 5 Japan Nirei Fukuzumi[2] All
6 Japan Ukyo Sasahara[3] 1–2
Japan Tadasuke Makino[1] 3–7
Japan Drago Corse with ThreeBond[4] 12 Colombia Tatiana Calderón[1] 1–2, 6–7
Japan Koudai Tsukakoshi[5] 3–5
Japan Red Bull Mugen Team Goh 15 Japan Hiroki Otsu[6] All
Japan Team Mugen[2] 16 Japan Tomoki Nojiri[2] All
Japan B-Max Racing[2] 51 Japan Nobuharu Matsushita[7] 2–7
Toyota Japan Kondō Racing 3 Japan Kenta Yamashita[8] All
4 Japan Yuichi Nakayama[3] 1–5
France Sacha Fenestraz[8] 6–7
Hong Kong carrozzeria Team KCMG 7 Japan Kazuto Kotaka[3] 1–5, 7
Japan Kamui Kobayashi[8] 6
18 Japan Yuji Kunimoto[8] All
Japan NTT Communications ROOKIE 14 Japan Kazuya Oshima[8] All
Japan carenex Team Impul 19 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi[8] All
20 Japan Ryō Hirakawa[8] 1–3, 5–7
Japan Mitsunori Takaboshi[9] 4
Japan Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S 36 Japan Kazuki Nakajima[8] 1, 6
France Giuliano Alesi[10] 2–5, 7
37 Japan Ritomo Miyata[8] All
Japan P.mu/cerumo・INGING 38 Japan Sho Tsuboi[8] All
39 Japan 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 Japan Tomoki Nojiri Japan Toshiki Oyu Japan Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
2 Suzuka International Racing Course Japan Nirei Fukuzumi Japan Hiroki Otsu Japan Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
3 Autopolis France Giuliano Alesi Japan Tomoki Nojiri France Giuliano Alesi Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S
4 Sportsland SUGO Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi Japan Tomoki Nojiri Japan Nirei Fukuzumi Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
5 Twin Ring Motegi Japan Tomoki Nojiri Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi Japan Tomoki Nojiri Team Mugen
6 Twin Ring Motegi Japan Hiroki Otsu Japan Toshiki Oyu Japan Hiroki Otsu Red Bull Mugen Team Goh
7 Suzuka International Racing Course Japan Nobuharu Matsushita Japan Tomoki Nojiri Japan 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 Japan Tomoki Nojiri 11 12 5 6 11 53 3 86
2 Japan Nirei Fukuzumi 3 Ret1 13 1 Ret 12 13 55
3 Japan Yuhi Sekiguchi 17† 4 10 31 22 4 4 55
4 Japan Ryō Hirakawa 4 2 Ret 4 Ret 2 46
5 Japan Toshiki Oyu 22 103 7 2 6 14 112 41
6 Japan Hiroki Otsu 16 5 6 10 10 11 5 38.5
7 Japan Sena Sakaguchi 9 11 23 83 5 2 13 35.5
8 Japan Nobuharu Matsushita 13 3 4 33 6 121 33.5
9 Japan Tadasuke Makino 14 52 7 3 10 24
10 Japan Ritomo Miyata 7 6 42 7 8 9 14 22
11 France Giuliano Alesi 9 11 9 16 8 20
12 Japan Ukyo Sasahara 53 3 18
13 Japan Naoki Yamamoto 6 8 9 12 12 Ret2 9 13
14 Japan Kenta Yamashita 12 12 11 14 15 8 6 8
15 Japan Sho Tsuboi Ret 7 Ret 15 9 Ret 16 6
16 Japan Kazuki Nakajima 11 7 4
17 France Sacha Fenestraz 13 7 4
18 Japan Yuji Kunimoto 8 Ret Ret 13 11 Ret 15 3
19 Japan Kazuya Oshima 10 15 8 18 Ret 11 17 2.5
20 Japan Kamui Kobayashi 10 1
21 Japan Mitsunori Takaboshi 11 0
22 Japan Koudai Tsukakoshi 12 16 Ret 0
23 Japan Yuichi Nakayama 14 14 15 Ret 13 0
24 Colombia Tatiana Calderón 13 17 Ret 19 0
25 Japan 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".
  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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