Red Bull junior driver Ayumu Iwasa will replace Daniel Ricciardo at Visa Cash App RB in FP1 for the Japanese GP to make his F1 debut, so here is everything you need to know.
The Faenza outfit have announced that Iwasa will take over one of their cars at Suzuka to get his Formula 1 weekend debut. He will peddle the VCARB 01 chassis that Ricciardo has driven in the first three rounds of the year. Yuki Tsunoda will remain behind the wheel of his RB car.
F1’s rules oblige all 10 teams to run a rookie driver in at least two FP1 sessions throughout a season. A rookie driver is, by definition, a driver who has started in two or fewer Grand Prix. Thus, Liam Lawson – who stood in for Ricciardo in five rounds in 2023 – is no longer eligible.
Ayumu Iwasa will replace Daniel Riccardo in FP1 at the 2024 Japanese GP
Iwasa will now enjoy his Formula 1 weekend debut at the 2024 Japanese GP after also doing the post-season test at the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP with AlphaTauri, prior to Red Bull rebranding the team as Visa Cash App RB. The post-season test marked Iwasa’s first outing in an F1 car.
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AlphaTauri allowed Iwasa one full day at Yas Marina Circuit in November, which saw him set the 15th-fastest lap time. Iwasa set a personal best time of 1:25.753 over his 96 tours of the track. So, ahead of his F1 weekend debut, here is everything you need to know about Iwasa.
Who is Ayumu Iwasa?
Ayumu Iwasa is one of the prospects in Red Bull’s driver academy and currently races in the Japanese Super Formula. He competes with Team Mugen and scored points on debut with a P9 finish at the Suzuka round on March 10. Iwasa qualified in P11 with his 1:36.446 lap time.
Red Bull signed Iwasa for their young driver development programme for 2021 after he won the French F4 title as a Honda-backed talent. Iwasa was already a part of the Honda Formula Dream Project after graduating top of his class from the 2019 Suzuka Circuit Racing School.
Graduating from SRS (now called the Honda Racing School Suzuka) handed Iwasa a move to Europe in the French F4 championship. He had previously only competed in Asia and only in sporadic races after moving to single-seaters in 2017. Iwasa had raced go-karts since 2014.
Iwasa first started driving go-karts during 2005 but he started competing nine years later in the Suzuka Karting Championship YAMAHA-SS class. He also contested the FP-Jr class in the 2014 JAF Junior Karting Championship before gradually rising the tiers in the next years.
Intermittent entries in single-seater races also meant it was not before Iwasa – by then 18 – moved to Europe that he won his first race. Yet he took nine victories en route to the French F4 crown which secured Red Bull’s backing and a switch to the FIA Formula 3 championship.
Hitech also ran Iwasa in the 2021 F3 Asian Championship. But his only win that year came in the first race at F3’s round at the Hungarian GP. Yet, despite finishing the season 12th in the standings, Iwasa graduated into Formula 2 with Dams in 2022 and finished fifth in the table.
Iwasa won his maiden F2 race at the French GP round after podiums at the Spanish GP and the British GP. He also won at the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP round, before taking further victories in 2023 at the Saudi Arabian GP round, the Australian GP round and the Monaco GP round.
Dams further saw Iwasa improve his standing to fourth in the F2 championship in 2023. The Honda and Red Bull-backed driver also went into the final round of the year with an outside shot at the title. But Iwasa did not score maximum points to deny Theo Pourchaire the title.
How old is Ayumu Iwasa? What is the Red Bull and Honda-backed driver’s age?
At the time of writing, Red Bull and Honda junior driver Ayumu Iwasa is 22 years old ahead of his Formula 1 weekend debut doing FP1 at the 2024 Japanese GP with Visa Cash App RB.
Where was Ayumu Iwasa born?
Ayumu Iwasa will make his F1 weekend debut on home soil at Suzuka, having been born in Moriguchi – a city in the Osaka Prefecture of Japan. It had a population of 143,000 in 2020.
How good is Ayumu Iwasa?
Ayumu Iwasa is a consistent and quick young driver who made a fast transition from racing in Asia to Europe. The language barrier was his biggest hurdle when moving from Japan to Le Mans, France. But Iwasa overcame the obstacle and has won races across various series.
A self-critic, Iwasa also holds himself to a high standard and has received praise from past teammates. Roy Nissany lauded the Japanese talent whilst Iwasa’s teammate in Formula 2 at Dams in 2022. The Israeli racer called Iwasa an ‘amazing talent’ and even said ‘I love the guy’.
Jonathan Eddolls, the head of trackside engineering at Visa Cash App RB, also praised Iwasa after his F1 debut at the post-season Abu Dhabi GP test in 2023. He said, via Speedweek-Ich-habe-so-viel-gelernt.html?lang=en): “Ayumu got used to the car very quickly…
“Iwasa did a very solid job and didn’t make any mistakes. His statements were precise and corresponded to the impressions that the regular drivers had of the car. At the end he was given soft tyres but he couldn’t take full advantage of them because of a defect.”
Does Ayumu Iwasa have an FIA Super Licence?
Ayumu Iwasa secured enough criteria points from finishing fourth in the FIA 2023 Formula 2 championship to obtain his FIA Super Licence required to compete in a Formula 1 session.
Ayumu Iwasa’s junior single-seater career stats
Ahead of debuting in the Japanese Super Formula series in 2024, Red Bull and Honda junior driver Ayumu Iwasa had only won one single-seater title. But the Japanese talent has taken wins over various single-seater levels since entering his first full-time championship in 2020.
2017 F4 Japanese Championship: 2 races, 0 wins, 0 podiums, 0 poles
2017 Asian Formula Renault Series: 2 races, 0 wins, 2 podiums, 2 poles
2018 F4 Japanese Championship: 2 races, 0 wins, 0 podiums, 0 poles
2019 Super Taikyu, ST-4: 1 race, 0 wins, 0 podiums, 0 poles
2020 French F4 Championship: 21 races, 9 wins, 15 podiums, 5 poles
2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship: 20 races, 1 win, 2 podiums, 0 poles
2021 F3 Asian Championship: 15 races, 0 wins, 1 podiums, 0 poles
2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship: 28 races, 2 wins, 6 podiums, 2 poles
2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship: 26 races, 3 wins, 6 podiums, 1 pole
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