Photo by: Masahide Kamio

: 2010: 6: 2: 1st (38 points)

Naoki Yamamoto emerged from 2018 as an international star, as talks of a Formula 1 practice outing - or even more - circulated following his rare Super Formula/Super GT title double.

Yamamoto could have stayed at the front-running Mugen team for another season in his bid to win a third championship in Super Formula, but took the gamble of moving to Dandelion, a team that hasn’t won a drivers’ title in over a decade - but did enjoy some success with Stoffel Vandoorne in 2016.

The 30-year-old is known as 'Mr Suzuka', so expect him to feature strongly in the opener, but he admits he needs to up his game at other tracks - whether he is able to do so could well come to define his season.