Categories: Look backRace and classic pictures

Happy birthday, Kamui Kobayashi!

Former Formula One racer Kamui Kobayashi turns 29 today.

He was born on September 13 1986 in the city of Amagasaki in the prefecture of Hyogo in Japan. Having made his name in GP2, he made his first Grand Prix appearance in a practice session for his home event in 2009 when he stood in for Toyota's Timo Glock who was unwell with a fever. Kobayashi then made his proper race début in the next event in Brazil, before moved to Sauber in 2010 where he stayed for full three seasons. His best race result with the team was a podium in his home race at Suzuka in 2012.

After a year away competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Kobayashi made a return to Grand Prix racing in 2014 with the Caterham F1 Team. However when that team ceased operations at the end of the season there was no place anywhere on the grid for Kobayashi and he's currently competing in the Japanese Championship Super Formula with Kygnus Sunoco Team LeMans.

Here's a picture of the birthday boy taken from last year's Singapore Grand Prix. Unfortunately despite qualifying in 20th place, Kobayashi didn't take up his place on the grid as the power unit on his car failed during the formation lap and he had to get a lift back to the pits from a track worker on a motorcycle.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.