Forging a Future: Taito Kato’s continued rise through the ranks

We caught up with him at Silverstone to find out how his first season in the FIA Formula 3 World Championship with ART Grand Prix is going…

After several strong performances at the Formula Regional European Championships Kato stepped up to FIA Formula 3 this year and commented that “the level of competition in F3 is really high and really tight as well, especially in qualifying. If you do a mistake in qualifying, if you lose one tenth, that means that you drop to tenth place easily.”

That difference between FRECA and F3 has proven to be more than Kato anticipated with the driver having to find different lines to those he would have taken in the FRECA car, as the cars have very different set ups. He further claims that the grip conditions in F3 are one of the factors that is most dissimilar to FRECA. He says he finds the new championship challenging but that’s because “you’ve got 30 of the most talented drivers on the grid. Everyone has some kind of championship, like from Formula 4 or Karting.”

Reflecting on the season so far Kato acknowledges the high level of competition and the need for precision in the FIA championship. Beginning his F3 journey on the streets of Melbourne at the Australian grand prix Kato finished an impressive third place, although this came after penalties for drivers in front. Despite being on the podium, he felt he was still missing something; “I finally got the podium but it was not enough pace…it was a really positive weekend, but still, we need to find something.”

Another difficulty that Kato faced was a two-month gap between Round 1 and Round 2, which meant less time in the car and time away from making progress. However, he doesn’t feel that this held him back too much. “I think it’s always difficult to adjust after such a long break, but I was able to adjust quite well because testing [at Monaco] I was P1 overall and my pace was really strong. I think I was correct in what I did in Japan during the break: I was on the simulator and there was still a lot of communication [with the team].”

That second round of the year was around the iconic streets of Monaco, and although the results weren’t what he was hoping for, it was still a special experience for Kato. “It was amazing. It was a dream come true, a dream since I was a kid. I was always watching it on TV when F1 was there. It was an amazing feeling driving in Monaco.”

Arriving in Barcelona for his third race of the season, Kato felt confident that he had a pretty good grip on the layout of the circuit. Catalunya is the track he has done the most laps of in Europe so believed that it helped “for confidence for myself and it was solid work during qualifying with fifth. It was just unfortunate that I had an issue in both races.” Austria saw the Japanese driver enjoy a strong weekend with good pace throughout the sessions. In addition, “there were opportunities to pass, which was really powerful with the DRS..the race pace was strong, which is a good step for the team, and we found a good car setup.”

Looking ahead at the rest of the season, he comments that “we have the pace [to fight for the top positions] but we haven’t been able to put it all together yet.” He knows what the end goal is though and shares that his “target is to be back on the podium and keep on scoring points with consistent results. I think we can do it. I am going to focus on each round as it comes and do my best.”

Kato continues to be ever grateful for the support he receives from Honda, who “has always supported me, and it’s helped a lot…it’s good communication with the team and building a good relationship with them.” One person who has been a big supporter is Honda Racing School Suzuka Principal Takuma Sato, and Kato has nothing but kind words for him. “He always gives me good advice, and we check the data together…this is helping me a lot. He gives lots of advice on how to make a good weekend and he has so much experience in F1 and across motorsport and is really successful.”

As our time with the young Japanese talent wraps up he leaves us with the closing statement that reiterates his goals: “I hope that we can be successful together in the future.”