Quick Facts
Biography
Nobuharu Matsushita (松下信治, Matsushita Nobuharu, born 13 October 1993) is a Japanese racing driver, best known for winning the 2014 All-Japan Formula Three Championship.
Career
Karting
Born in Saitama, Matsushita began his racing career in karting in 2005, competing the All-Japan Junior Kart Championship. In 2008, he clinched the championship title in the Open Masters Kart ARTA Challenge. He ended his karting participations in 2010, finishing third in the KF1 category of the All Japan Kart Championship.
Formula Pilota China and Formula Challenge Japan
In 2011, Matsushita graduated to single–seaters into the Formula Pilota China with the Super License team. He missed the Ordos round, but after his returning he showed better performance than in the first part of the season. He won the final race of the season at Sepang and finished the season fourth.
For 2012, he switched to the Formula Challenge Japan mono-series. He scored ten podiums in twelve races, including five wins and took the championship title.
All-Japan Formula Three
In 2013, Matsushita stepped up to the All-Japan Formula Three Championship with the HFDP Racing. He collected five podiums and another seven point-scoring finishes, to end the season on the fifth position in the series standings, it was the best result for the Honda driver.
For the next season he decided to stay in the series with the same team. He was victorious at Motegi, Fuji and Sugo, grabbing the championship title from Kenta Yamashita with a twelve-point gap.
GP2 Series
Matsushita made his début in the GP2 Series in 2015 with ART Grand Prix. In the first race at Bahrain, he qualified second on the grid opposite teammate Stoffel Vandoorne and finished in the points in both races, setting the fastest lap in the sprint race. At the Red Bull Ring, Matsushita took his first GP2 podium by finishing third in the sprint race. He took his first victory in the sport in the sprint race at the Hungaroring as part of an ART 1-2. He finished 9th in the overall standings.
In February 2016, it was announced Matsushita would reunite with ART for a second season, alongside fellow 2015 rookie Sergey Sirotkin.
Matsushita was suspended for the 4th round of the season in Austria due to erratic driving at the previous event in Baku.
Formula One
On 20 February 2016, Matsushita was signed as a development driver for McLaren.
Racing record
Career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | FLaps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Formula Pilota China | Super License | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 89 | 4th |
| 2012 | Formula Challenge Japan | 12 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 91 | 1st | |
| 2013 | All-Japan Formula Three | HFDP Racing | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 43 | 5th |
| 2014 | All-Japan Formula Three | HFDP Racing | 15 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 102 | 1st |
| 2015 | GP2 Series | ART Grand Prix | 22 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 68.5 | 9th |
| 2015-16 | MRF Challenge Formula 2000 | MRF Challenge | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 80 | 6th |
| 2016 | Formula One | McLaren | Development driver | ||||||
| GP2 Series | ART Grand Prix | 20 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 92 | 11th | |
Complete GP2 Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | ART Grand Prix | BHR FEA 10 | BHR SPR 6 | CAT FEA 11 | CAT SPR 18 | MON FEA Ret | MON SPR 19 | RBR FEA 4 | RBR SPR 3 | SIL FEA Ret | SIL SPR 19 | HUN FEA 8 | HUN SPR 1 | SPA FEA Ret | SPA SPR 15 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR 15 | SOC FEA 10 | SOC SPR 7 | BHR FEA 2 | BHR SPR Ret | YMC FEA 11 | YMC SPR C | 9th | 68.5 |
| 2016 | ART Grand Prix | CAT FEA 11 | CAT SPR 8 | MON FEA 8 | MON SPR 1 | BAK FEA 6 | BAK SPR Ret | RBR FEA | RBR SPR | SIL FEA 6 | SIL SPR 5 | HUN FEA 6 | HUN SPR Ret | HOC FEA 9 | HOC SPR 12 | SPA FEA 11 | SPA SPR 11 | MNZ FEA 11 | MNZ SPR 6 | SEP FEA Ret | SEP SPR 7 | YMC FEA 2 | YMC SPR 4 | 11th | 92 |