Masami Kuwashima (born 14 September 1950) is a former Japanese racing driver whose tantalisingly brief brush with Formula One came at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix. He practised and qualified a Formula One car during the weekend, only for sponsorship problems to remove him from the seat before he could make the race itself.
Driver Bio
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Birthplace | Kumagaya, Japan |
| Born | 14 September 1950 |
| First Grand Prix | 1976 Japanese Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1976 Japanese Grand Prix |
| Years Active | 1976 |
| Current/Last Team | Frank Williams Racing Cars |
It was an unusual sequence of events, even by the sometimes chaotic standards of 1970s Formula One. Kuwashima originally had a completely different car lined up for his Grand Prix opportunity, eventually landed a drive with the struggling Wolf–Williams operation, completed two qualifying sessions and then found himself replaced before Saturday’s final session.
As a result, Kuwashima came remarkably close to becoming a Formula One Grand Prix starter without ever actually taking the start.
Kuwashima’s Formula One chance arrived when the World Championship travelled to Japan in 1976.
His original plan was to compete in a Brabham BT44 entered by RAM Racing. There was, however, a fairly substantial problem: the intended car was not available.
The Brabham had been impounded at the 1976 German Grand Prix in August, leaving Kuwashima and his backers searching for another route onto the Japanese Grand Prix grid.
A solution was eventually found with Wolf–Williams Racing. The team was enduring a difficult season, but it could provide Kuwashima with the Formula One machinery he needed. Instead of the planned Brabham, he would therefore attempt to qualify a Wolf–Williams FW05.
It was hardly the most straightforward preparation for a Formula One debut, but Kuwashima finally had a car and an opportunity.
Kuwashima participated in the opening two qualifying sessions of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
During Friday morning’s first session, he recorded a best lap of 1:17.90. That placed him 23rd fastest among the 26 entrants.
Importantly, he was not at the bottom of the timesheets. Kuwashima’s lap put him ahead of Hans-Joachim Stuck, Tony Trimmer and Harald Ertl.
The afternoon proved more difficult.
Kuwashima was unable to improve on his morning performance and recorded a 1:19.27. With Tony Trimmer and Masahiro Hasemi not taking part in that particular session, Kuwashima was classified 24th and slowest of the drivers who recorded a time.
Meanwhile, Stuck and Ertl both improved upon their earlier performances.
When Friday’s running was complete and the times from the sessions were considered, Kuwashima found himself 25th of the 26 entrants overall. Only Trimmer was behind him.
And that was when his Formula One weekend took a dramatic turn. Kuwashima’s position on the timesheets prompted his sponsors to withdraw the funding behind his Williams arrangement. For a private Formula One deal in the 1970s, the disappearance of financial backing could bring proceedings to an abrupt halt – and that is exactly what happened here.
With the funding gone, Frank Williams replaced Kuwashima with Austrian driver Hans Binder for the third qualifying session and the Grand Prix itself.
Binder was not completely new to Formula One. Earlier in 1976, he had driven for Ensign at the Austrian Grand Prix, giving Williams an experienced replacement who could step into the FW05 at short notice.
For Kuwashima, however, his Formula One opportunity was effectively over after just two official sessions.
The final qualifying session provided an interesting comparison between Kuwashima and the man who replaced him.
Binder managed a best lap of 1:17.36 in the Wolf–Williams, compared with Kuwashima’s Friday morning best of 1:17.90.
That made Binder a little more than half a second quicker.
Despite the improvement, it hardly transformed the car’s position on the grid. Binder was still only 25th overall when qualifying was complete.
There was another complication: only 24 cars were supposed to start.
Williams therefore had to seek permission from the other teams for Binder to participate in the Grand Prix despite his qualifying position. Permission was granted, allowing them to take their place in the race.
Binder’s afternoon eventually ended on lap 49, when the car retired with a wheel-bearing failure.
For Kuwashima, it must have been a frustrating conclusion to a weekend in which he had gone from prospective Grand Prix debutant to spectator in little more than a day.
Kuwashima never received another opportunity to compete in Formula One.
With no second Formula One opportunity forthcoming, Kuwashima returned to racing in Japan. He continued his career in the Japanese Formula 2000 and Formula Two championships, concentrating on the domestic single-seater scene for the remainder of his time as an active racing driver.
Unfortunately, the financial difficulties that had affected his Formula One opportunity did not disappear. Kuwashima continued to struggle to secure sufficient sponsorship, and in 1979 he brought his single-seater racing career to an end. His involvement with motorsport, however, was far from finished.
Kuwashima subsequently found other ways to put his considerable driving and motorsport experience to use. During the early 2000s, he worked as a team director in the Japanese GT Championship, moving from the cockpit into a management role in one of Japan’s major forms of professional motorsport.
His driving skills also took him in a rather different direction. Kuwashima worked as a stunt driver for film and television, adding another chapter to a career that had begun in competitive single-seaters.
Grand Prix Stats
| Race Entries | 1 |
| Race Starts | 0 |
| Did Not Start | 1 |
| Best Race Start | DNS |
| Best Race Finish | DNS |
| Retirements | 0 |
| First-Lap Retirements | 0 |
| Not Classified | 0 |
| Disqualified | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 0 |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Sessions | 1 |
| Reached Q3 | 0 |
| Q2 Eliminations | 0 |
| Q1 Eliminations | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 0 |
Stats by Season
| Year | Constructor | Entries | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Fastest Laps | Front Rows | DNF | Best Start | Best Result | Pts Finishes | Points | Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Frank Williams Racing Cars | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DNS | DNS | 0 | 0 | Not classified |
Stats by Constructor
| Constructor | Years | Entries | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Fastest Laps | Front Rows | DNF | Best Start | Best Result | Pts Finishes | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frank Williams Racing Cars | 1976 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DNS | DNS | 0 | 0 |
Teammates & Qualifying Head-to-Head
| Teammate | Years | Races | Qualifying H2H |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hans Binder | 1976 | 1 | – |
| Arturo Merzario | 1976 | 1 | – |
