Of all the Formula One drivers that Japan has produced in the past few years (Takuma Sato, Sakon Yamamoto, Yuji Ide and Kazuki Nakajima), Kamui Kobayashi looks to be the most promising. He made his F1 debut at the 2009 Brazilian GP replacing an injured Timo Glock at Toyota. He qualified 11th and finished the race 10th after a bold battle in which he even fended off attacks from Jenson Button, the eventual champion last season.When the Toyota team decided to quit F1 at the end of 2009, it looked like Kobayashi would be hung out to dry without an F1 race seat. But with Sauber making its return to the sport, the Japanese driver has got another chance to prove himself.As the 2010 season progressed, Kobayashi has justified his projection as Japan’s latest rising F1 star. After a difficult start to the season where the Sauber team could barely finish races due to reliability issues, the Japanese driver scored the first points of 2010 for the Hinwil-based team. He has single-handedly taken the team above Toro Rosso in the championship and tormented drivers like Button and Fernando Alonso in the European GP this year