Who is Red Bull junior driver Ayumu Iwasa? Age, nationality, stats and more

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Ayumu Iwasa is a promising Japanese racing driver and he has been with the Red Bull Junior Team since 2021, so here is everything you need to know about the young racer.

Iwasa benefitted from his association with the Honda Formula Dream Project to join the Red Bull driver academy. Having backing from one of the biggest Formula 1 teams also led to his F1 weekend debut driving with Visa Cash App RB in FP1 for the Japanese Grand Prix in 2024.

RB afforded Iwasa an outing at his home round in place of Daniel Ricciardo to help meet F1’s regulation obliging every team to run a rookie driver in at least two FP1 sessions throughout a season. Iwasa also re-joined RB for FP1 at the 2024 Abu Dhabi GP in place of Yuki Tsunoda.

Ayumu Iwasa made his F1 weekend debut in FP1 at the 2024 Japanese GP

Iwasa had already spent time with Visa Cash App RB whilst the Faenza team were still called AlphaTauri after taking part in the 2023 post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit. The post-season test following the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP even marked Iwasa’s first outing in any F1 car.

AlphaTauri gave Iwasa one full day at the Yas Marina Circuit in the 2023 test, which saw him set the 15th-quickest lap. Iwasa set a personal best time of 1:25.753 over his 96 tours of the track. So, ahead of his F1 weekend debut, here is everything you need to know about Iwasa.

Who is Ayumu Iwasa?

Ayumu Iwasa is one of the prospects in Red Bull’s driver academy and currently races in the Japanese Super Formula. He competes with Team Mugen and scored points on debut with a P9 finish at the Suzuka round on March 10. Iwasa qualified in P11 with his 1:36.446 lap time.

Red Bull signed Iwasa for their young driver development programme for 2021 after he won the French F4 title as a Honda-backed talent. Iwasa was already a part of the Honda Formula Dream Project after graduating top of his class from the 2019 Suzuka Circuit Racing School.

Graduating from SRS (now called the Honda Racing School Suzuka) handed Iwasa a move to Europe in the French F4 championship. He had previously only competed in Asia and only in sporadic races after moving to single-seaters in 2017. Iwasa had raced go-karts since 2014.

Iwasa first started driving go-karts during 2005 but he started competing nine years later in the Suzuka Karting Championship YAMAHA-SS class. He also contested the FP-Jr class in the 2014 JAF Junior Karting Championship before gradually rising the tiers in the next years.

Intermittent entries in single-seater races also meant it was not before Iwasa – by then 18 – moved to Europe that he won his first race. Yet he took nine victories en route to the French F4 crown which secured Red Bull’s backing and a switch to the FIA Formula 3 championship.

Hitech also ran Iwasa in the 2021 F3 Asian Championship. But his only win that year came in the first race at F3’s round at the Hungarian GP. Yet, despite finishing the season 12th in the standings, Iwasa graduated into Formula 2 with Dams in 2022 and finished fifth in the table.

Iwasa won his maiden F2 race at the French GP round after podiums at the Spanish GP and the British GP. He also won at the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP round, before taking further victories in 2023 at the Saudi Arabian GP round, the Australian GP round and the Monaco GP round.

Dams further saw Iwasa improve his standing to fourth in the F2 championship in 2023. The Honda and Red Bull-backed driver also went into the final round of the year with an outside shot at the title. But Iwasa did not score maximum points to deny Theo Pourchaire the title.

How old is Ayumu Iwasa? When was the Red Bull and Honda-backed driver born?

At the time of writing, Red Bull and Honda junior driver Ayumu Iwasa is 23 years old, He was born on September 22 in 2001 – meaning he made his F1 weekend debut at the age of 22.

Where was Ayumu Iwasa born?

Ayumu Iwasa made his F1 weekend debut on home soil at Suzuka, having been born in Moriguchi – a city in the Osaka Prefecture of Japan. It had a population of 143,000 in 2020.

How good is Ayumu Iwasa?

Ayumu Iwasa is a consistent and quick young driver who made a fast transition from racing in Asia to Europe. The language barrier was his biggest hurdle when moving from Japan to Le Mans, France. But Iwasa overcame the obstacle and has won races across various series.

A self-critic, Iwasa also holds himself to a high standard and has received praise from past teammates. Roy Nissany lauded the Japanese talent whilst Iwasa’s teammate in Formula 2 at Dams in 2022. The Israeli racer called Iwasa an ‘amazing talent’ and added, ‘I love the guy’.

Jonathan Eddolls, the head of trackside engineering at Visa Cash App RB, also praised Iwasa after his F1 debut at the post-season Abu Dhabi GP test in 2023. He said, via Speedweek: “Ayumu got used to the car very quickly…

“Iwasa did a very solid job and didn’t make any mistakes. His statements were precise and corresponded to the impressions that the regular drivers had of the car. At the end, he was given soft tyres but he couldn’t take full advantage of them because of a defect.”

Does Ayumu Iwasa have an FIA Super Licence?

Ayumu Iwasa secured enough criteria points from finishing fourth in the FIA 2023 Formula 2 Championship to obtain his FIA Super Licence required to compete in a Formula 1 session.

Ayumu Iwasa’s single-seater career stats

As of the end of the 2024 season, Red Bull and Honda junior driver Ayumu Iwasa has only won one single-seater title in his fledgling career. But the Japanese talent has scored race wins in various single-seater levels since entering his first full-time championship in 2020.

2017 F4 Japanese Championship: 2 races, 0 wins, 0 podiums, 0 poles

2017 Asian Formula Renault Series: 2 races, 0 wins, 2 podiums, 2 poles

2018 F4 Japanese Championship: 2 races, 0 wins, 0 podiums, 0 poles

2019 Super Taikyu, ST-4: 1 race, 0 wins, 0 podiums, 0 poles

2020 French F4 Championship: 21 races, 9 wins, 15 podiums, 5 poles

2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship: 20 races, 1 win, 2 podiums, 0 poles

2021 F3 Asian Championship: 15 races, 0 wins, 1 podiums, 0 poles

2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship: 28 races, 2 wins, 6 podiums, 2 poles

2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship: 26 races, 3 wins, 6 podiums, 1 pole

2024 Super Formula: 9 races, 0 wins, 1 pole, 3 podiums