Nirei Fukuzumi: “We’re getting a lot better”

Everyone loves Nirei Fukuzumi.

With his seemingly permanent broad smile etched upon his face, the Japanese driver is popular among the Formula 2 fraternity. Behind the jokes and joviality, however, is a seriously quick racer. Twice a winner in the GP3 Series, Fukuzumi’s third place in last season’s standings earned him a step up to F2 with paddock stalwarts BWT Arden.

This year, results have been harder to come by for Fukuzumi. A frequent podium-botherer in his GP3 days, the move to F2 has been a challenging one for the Tokushima-born driver, which has so far yielded just eleven points from the opening eight rounds.

Rather than flicking through the book of racing drivers’ excuses, Fukuzumi was disarmingly honest about his season so far, and identified the key areas in where he’d like to improve.

“I’ve found the move okay, it’s just really tough!” he laughs. “In testing I was a little bit far off my teammate, but I think I’m really enjoying driving the new car and I’m getting used to it. But yeah, I can only say it’s tough, I want to do a good job in all the circuits but I’m struggling with qualifying. I’m always P-nowhere! laughs I’m missing some time compared to my teammate, which makes me a bit disappointed. Because I’m doing Super Formula as well, this year I’ve always been adjusting.

“Braking is something I need to get used to, I was good under braking in the GP3 car, but in the F2 car I don’t have the confidence under braking yet. This is maybe my biggest problem.”

Fukuzumi’s 2018 schedule is incredibly busy. Doubling up his F2 duties with Japan’s Super Formula series, there’s a constant need to adapt to two different cars with very different characteristics – along with a particularly hectic August period where Fukuzumi will rack up the air miles as he switches between both categories.

“Doing Super Formula as well, I’ve got four races coming up in August. So I’m in Japan, then Spa, Monza, and then back to Japan – it’s going to be really tough! I’m going to have so much jetlag!”

Just how different are the two cars? It’s certainly a question that Fukuzumi’s been asked before.

“I think everyone wants to know about this. When you go from Super Formula to an F2 car, it’s hard – the braking is so different. The Super Formula car needs a really high pressure in comparison, so I’m struggling to find the balance between the two.

“Baku was the most difficult one, because braking’s very important and I was so worried to hit the pedal! I think it’s also the first time I’ve ever driven on a city circuit, so it was very tricky!”

As well as two new cars to get to grips with, Fukuzumi has also had to adapt to a brand new team. Having been part of ART Grand Prix’s dominant GP3 setup for the previous two seasons, he made the switch to BWT Arden for the new year, which he admits was tough to adapt to in the nascent stages of their partnership.

“When I joined Arden, I was maybe struggling to have good communication with my engineer, but now we’re getting a lot better, especially as we’re working very hard together. But honestly, I’m happy to be with Arden.”

Although communication has perhaps been a big issue for Fukuzumi since leaving Japan to race in Europe, his English has improved vastly from when he first arrived on the scene in GP3. In his first press conference, Fukuzumi needed the assistance of a translator in his post-race dissection of events, but now he’s happy to talk at great length about absolutely anything that comes to mind – although he says that getting his tongue around the English language is still a work in progress.

“To be honest, even now I have to focus to listen to what people say to me in English. And it’s hard to speak in English in front of people, but when I first came to GP3 I got a podium straight away and was really worried about having to speak in English! But even at that time, it was getting better, but it’s not like it is now. Back then, I could understand a little bit of what they were asking me, but I’m sometimes so ashamed to speak English!

“I think I learned a lot about it last year, GP3 gave me the opportunity to speak English in the press conferences, which is good for the future.”

There’s another change for Fukuzumi this year, in that he’s now an official Red Bull athlete. Although not part of the revered Junior Team which birthed the careers of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and the like, Fukuzumi bears the Red Bull colours on his helmet and overalls. There’s pressure, he concedes, but he’s also thankful for the support – in his own self-depreciative way, of course. “It’s a good opportunity to me to work with Red Bull. I don’t know whether I’ll ever have the chance to race with them in F1, but having them with me makes me a lot stronger. It’s a lot more pressure with Red Bull, but I’m getting used to it and I’m feeling a lot better about it – and it’s just a shame to wear the Red Bull logos when I’m P-nowhere! laughs”

Fukuzumi also benefits from having a full-time trainer and minder, Crofton Alexander, who travels with the Arden team to every race. Although his primary duties are to keep Fukuzumi racing-fit, he also acts as his friend and confidant within the team. Having perhaps seen his ART teammates last year as something of a close-knit family, Fukuzumi is grateful for Crofton’s help in adapting to a new team and environment.

“Usually, I say whatever I’m feeling to Crofton, even if it’s something crazy, but he’s such a good support to me – in training, and working on my mentality. But it’s different to last year, and maybe I feel a little bit lonely without George Russell, Jack Aitken and Anthoine Hubert, and even Alex Albon was at ART last year and we’re already close.

“This year I’ve got a different teammate in Maximilian Günther, but we don’t speak in the same way as I did with George, Jack and Alex – he’s quite quiet so it’s the opposite for me. But I’m lucky to have always had good teammates, I’ve also had Alex and Nyck de Vries. It’s a big difference this year to the year before, but I’m happy to have Crofton. He teaches me the odd English word, and I teach him the bad Japanese words! laughs I can tell him everything, which makes me a lot more relaxed.”

Although he remains close to Russell and Aitken, Fukuzumi enjoys something of a fraternal relationship with Albon, whom he has raced against for the past couple of years.

“Alex lives in the same city as I do, so I go around to his house a lot. His family helps me out a lot, it’s crazy, and I feel like I’m a family with them. Even after a tough weekend, they helped me so much and made me very happy! I have to do something to give back to them.”

This year, Fukuzumi has fellow Honda development driver Tadasuke Makino also on the grid, and the two have known each other since their karting days. Although racing drivers are rarely friends off the circuit, the Japanese pair often hang out outside of races to indulge in some home comforts.

“Sometimes, I cook for Tadasuke!" Fukuzumi laughs. "We both live in the UK now, and sometimes he comes to my house to get me to cook Japanese food. He told me he's never really cooked before, and I was living in Japan alone when I was in Formula 3 – I worked in a restaurant at that time to get money! So I’m quite good at cooking, but I always hate the washing – I ask Tadasuke to wash it up! We know each other from a long time ago, we karted together in Japan so we’ve always got on well since we were young.”

He’s a popular man both on and off the circuit, and plenty of supporters in his native Japan have rallied behind him as they look for the next F1 hopeful to represent the Land of the Rising Sun. How does he feel about that?

“I’m happy to hear about this,” he grins. “I feel like I need to have a smile!”