Kamui Kobayashi has eyes that dance with mischief and menace and at once there is the realisation that he must represent one of the most unwelcome rear-view mirror sights in all Formula One.

Kobayashi's Sauber is unlikely to be at the front of the grid when the new season roars into life in Melbourne next Sunday but his ability to deliver a bloody nose with a haymaker from the middle of the pack is already well-known, as anyone who drove at Valencia or Suzuka last year would ruefully confirm. He was the most dazzling, eye-catching presence outside the elite group of drivers and a good result in this season's opening race will be a welcome distraction from the terrible events in his homeland.

"I was very worried about my country and so I went to Japan after the Barcelona test," Kobayashi says referring to the devastation caused by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. "I must say the situation is really, really bad. So many have lost their lives, become homeless, are without food and water in the cold winter and have lost their loved ones. It is difficult to believe that a scenario worse than in any movie has become reality.

"I am worried the whole country could disappear – it is just too awful. Since the earthquake and the tsunami news is getting worse every day, there is nothing positive to look forward to at the moment. I feel I have to do something. I want to help but in fact there is nothing I can do by myself.

"I was looking forward to Melbourne with great joy. Now what I really want to do is my very best to achieve a good result, which perhaps can at least give the people in Japan a little bit of hope and positive news."

Scoring a point, let alone a podium finish, would be a huge fillip to the 24-year-old who, in less harrowing times, does not really feel very Japanese. "I am quite strange," he says, and there is a disinclination to question this piece of self-knowledge from a 24-year-old with only one full Formula One season behind him. "Even in Japan I am quite strange, though I am Japanese. In Japan people are quite serious, a bit like the Germans, punctual and proper.

"But I look to take it easy. I'm always smiling. Some people feel a lot of stress in race week but I enjoy it. I've been living in Europe since I was 17 years old. So my feeling is not really Japanese." He does not like raw fish and his favourite drink is a milkshake, not sake.

"I think from 17 to 22, maybe 23, is where you change from child to adult. And this was the time I spent in Europe. I moved to Italy and from the word go I liked the Italian way of life."

Kobayashi also seems to like the Italian way of driving – the tifosi would adore him. For here is an old-fashioned charger of a driver, who in a different age and livery might have lined up beside Lord Cardigan in the Battle of Balaclava.

At the end of the 2009 season Kobayashi was thinking of returning home to work in his father's sushi restaurant. But to watch him drive now is to wonder if Formula One really needs new tyres, Kers, a movable rear wing and all the other regulations introduced to make the sport more exciting.

"Racing must be challenging and exciting," Kobayashi says. "That is what motor sport is about. I will try to overtake anyone. Overtaking is totally normal."

Well, it is not for everyone. After yet another breathtaking manoeuvre last season one former driver said: "Kamui's race engineer can't be up to much as he's obviously forgotten to tell Kamui you can't do that in Formula One."

Sauber did not win a point from the first six races last season. But Kobayashi was 10th in the next race, in Turkey. Then, in the European Grand Prix at Valencia, he was seventh, moving up from a grid position of 18th. "Overtaking Fernando [Alonso] was a very good moment for me. Just because it is Fernando I don't think I can't overtake him. It was a good race for me. I had a good fight with all the cars, though."

In the next outing, at Silverstone, he finished sixth after being 12th on the grid. It was at his home race in Japan, however, where he produced his most stunning drive, going late into the pits before overtaking a number of cars – including one around the outside at the hairpin – to finish seventh. He finished the season in 12th place with 32 points.

"Japan was very good for me because there had been so much pressure in the whole week, because we were in Japan, and I was the only Japanese there," he says, forgetting his compatriot Sakon Yamamoto's pedestrian dive to last place, three laps down. "It was a very, very difficult time but we had a great race and we felt better afterwards."

Kobayashi has certainly impressed Sauber's new technical director, James Key. "Kamui did a brilliant job last year. He's one of those special drivers who's comfortable with overtaking and can try a few risky things," Key says. "The good thing about him is that by the middle of last season we had the confidence to give him a strategy that was slightly different in the knowledge that he would probably make it work.

"His input and his success was definitely part of the team's recovery in the second half of the season. I joined the team some way into the season but I could soon see how quickly he learned and how his confidence grew.

"He's a very relaxed guy. He's quite European. He's been over here for a long time. He's very smart, quietly confident and figures things out very quickly. He's also very transparent. If he makes a mistake, he will say so and, if he thinks the team needs to do a better job, he will say so. He pushes the team very hard."

Kobayashi's driving in the second half of the season certainly vindicated his decision not to give up race driving and return to his native Japan ."My father and my whole family was not interested in me racing at first," he says. "I started karting when I was young. I think I was nine years old. I knew I wanted to race.

"I told my father every day that I wanted to go karting. So eventually we started to do racing. My father follows Formula One now but he is not really a fan of motor sport. He came to China but didn't see qualifying."

Kobayashi, like Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, caught the eye of that redoubtable talent spotter Peter Sauber, but when he first came to Europe, in 2004, to race in Formula Renault, his driving was fast but very erratic. He was still good enough to win the Italian and European series before moving on to F3 in 2006 and then graduating to GP2 in 2008.

At the end of 2009 he was given a drive in Formula One by Toyota, replacing the injured Timo Glock. He was impressive in both Brazil and Abu Dhabi, giving Jenson Button a run for his money at both events. But the Japanese company then announced it was quitting the sport and Sauber stepped in.

After being paired with the veteran Pedro de la Rosa in 2010, he leads the team this year. And judging by the figures from the last testing session in Barcelona he may have his own problems with a rookie driver.

Sergio Pérez, who had shown some pace in GP2, is the new man at Sauber. The Mexican has got his ride after a huge cash injection from Telmex, the Mexican telecoms giant that is owned by Carlos Slim, the world's richest man. Kobayashi, like all the other drivers, also has the challenge of coping with the new Pirelli tyres. Key says: "Kamui's got a bit of work to do in adapting because he's used to the tyres of the previous supplier, while Sergio isn't, so it is a little bit more difficult to adapt for a driver who was in F1 last year. But Kamui is doing a good job."

Key is another good reason why Kobayashi may be able to build on his success of last year. At 38 he is considered to be one of the bright young things of Formula One, someone who may one day challenge the dominance of Red Bull's Adrian Newey. He broke into the sport with Jordan in 1998, where he was promoted from data engineer to senior race engineer. He then moved to the aero side and became the team's technical director in 2005.

Key has impressed since joining Sauber last season and before the new money rolled in he made substantial improvements on a tight budget, giving an essentially stiff car more flexibility and balance.

"We won't know until qualifying in Melbourne how quick everyone is," says Key. "But we can score points regularly and go for Q3. If we can hit the top end of midfield, which in itself is pretty tough, then that's an OK place to start. And then we need to make a step, similar to what we did last year."

But no one who goes to Albert Park on Sunday will be there to watch James Key. It is Kamui Kobayashi who is expected to set the pulses racing again.

With the recent disasters in his native land, however, Kobayashi will be forgiven if his mind is not entirely on the racing next weekend.