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The 2021 Japanese Super Formula Championship was the forty-ninth season of premier Japanese open-wheel motor racing, and the ninth under the moniker of Super Formula. Naoki Yamamoto entered the 2021 season as the defending drivers' champion.
Tomoki Nojiri took his first drivers' championship at the penultimate round at Motegi, while Team Impul took their first teams' championship since 2010 at the season finale.
Teams and drivers
Every Honda-powered car used a Honda HR-414E engine and every Toyota-powered car used a Toyota RI4A engine.
| Team | Engine | No. | Driver | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 TCS Nakajima Racing
|
Honda | 1 | Naoki Yamamoto[1]
|
All |
| 64 | Toshiki Oyu[2]
|
All | ||
| Kondo Racing
|
Toyota | 3 | Kenta Yamashita[3]
|
All |
| 4 | Yuichi Nakayama[4]
|
1–5 | ||
 Sacha Fenestraz[3]
|
6–7 | |||
| Docomo Team Dandelion Racing
|
Honda | 5 | Nirei Fukuzumi[2]
|
All |
| 6 | Ukyo Sasahara[4]
|
1–2 | ||
| Tadasuke Makino[1]
|
3–7 | |||
 carrozzeria Team KCMG
|
Toyota | 7 | Kazuto Kotaka[4]
|
1–5, 7 |
| Kamui Kobayashi[3]
|
6 | |||
| 18 | Yuji Kunimoto[3]
|
All | ||
| Drago Corse with ThreeBond[5]
|
Honda | 12 |  Tatiana Calderón[1]
|
1–2, 6–7 |
| Koudai Tsukakoshi[6]
|
3–5 | |||
| NTT Communications ROOKIE
|
Toyota | 14 | Kazuya Oshima[3]
|
All |
| Red Bull Mugen Team Goh[N 1] Team Mugen[2][N 1]
|
Honda | 15 | Hiroki Otsu[7]
|
All |
| 16 | Tomoki Nojiri[2]
|
All | ||
| carenex Team Impul
|
Toyota | 19 | Yuhi Sekiguchi[3]
|
All |
| 20 | Ryō Hirakawa[3]
|
1–3, 5–7 | ||
| Mitsunori Takaboshi[8]
|
4 | |||
| Kuo Vantelin Team TOM'S
|
Toyota | 36 | Kazuki Nakajima[3]
|
1, 6 |
| Giuliano Alesi[9]
|
2–5, 7 | |||
| 37 | Ritomo Miyata[3]
|
All | ||
| P.mu/Cerumo・INGING
|
Toyota | 38 | Sho Tsuboi[3]
|
All |
| 39 | Sena Sakaguchi[3]
|
All | ||
| B-Max Racing[2]
|
Honda | 51 | Nobuharu Matsushita[10]
|
2–7 |
Team changes
- Team Mugen run one car, as the other car will be run together with Servus under Team Goh. The team named Red Bull Mugen Team Goh.
- Rookie Racing who previously operated by Cerumo, would run independently by themselves. The team get new title partner from NTT Communications, the team named NTT Communications ROOKIE.
- Team Impul runs new sponsorship from Itochu as they will run under black gold colour. The team rebranded as carenex Team Impul.
Driver changes
- Three-time and defending series champion Naoki Yamamoto moved to TCS Nakajima Racing after spending two seasons with Dandelion Racing. This was Yamamoto's first time driving for Nakajima Racing since his rookie season in 2010. While Tadasuke Makino moved to Docomo Team Dandelion Racing after two seasons with Nakajima Racing.[2]
- Hiroki Otsu gets a full time seat after an appearance in the last round in 2020, as he raced with Red Bull Mugen Team Goh.[7]
- 2019 series champion Nick Cassidy has exited the series, following his move to the FIA Formula E World Championship with Envision Virgin Racing. Cassidy's replacement is Super Formula Lights champion Ritomo Miyata, who race for two races in 2020 in relief of Kazuki Nakajima.[3]
- Two-time series champion Hiroaki Ishiura has retired from the series. With reigning Formula Regional Japanese Champion Sena Sakaguchi picked as Ishiura's replacementfor P.mu/Cerumo・INGING.[3]
- Yves Baltas was scheduled to compete for B-Max Racing, but did not enter any rounds.[11]
Mid-season changes
- Kamui Kobayashi: missed all but the sixth round at Motegi due to commitments in the WEC and IMSA. Kazuto Kotaka was his replacement.
- Sacha Fenestraz missed the first five rounds because of visa issues. Yuichi Nakayama was his replacement.
- Tadasuke Makino missed the first two rounds of the season due to a his recovery from meningitis. Ukyo Sasahara was his replacement.
- Nobuharu Matsushita: joined B-Max Racing from the second round at Suzuka. He was initially denied an engine lease from Honda, after signing a factory racing contract with Nissan in the Super GT Series. This prevented him from racing in the opening round at Fuji. Honda would reverse their decision after Masaya Nagai replaced Hiroshi Shimizu as the Director of Motorsport at Honda.[12]
- Kazuki Nakajima missed both Suzuka rounds, Autopolis, SUGO, and the fifth round at Motegi. Giuliano Alesi was his replacement.
- Tatiana Calderon missed Autopolis, Sugo, and the fifth round at Motegi (was able to participate in the April Suzuka round because of local regulations with her licence, which is from the ACC, the Colombian ASN of the FIA, unlike the Japanese drivers, who have JAF licences). Koudai Tsukakoshi was her replacement for the third to the fifth round.
- Ryo Hirakawa missed the SUGO round because he was tested TGR WEC car and not make in time for quarantine. Mitsunori Takaboshi covers for him.
Race calendar
The provisional calendar was announced on 6 August 2020. After heavy disruptions to the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the series returned to a more traditional schedule, with Suzuka Circuit hosting the season finale as it was usual.[13] On 12 April 2021, the organisation announced the cancellation of the Okayama round, which was due to be held in the first week of October. Instead, a second round at Motegi was confirmed.[14]
| Round | Circuit | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fuji Speedway | 4 April |
| 2 | Suzuka International Racing Course | 25 April |
| 3 | Autopolis | 16 May |
| 4 | Sportsland SUGO | 20 June |
| 5 | Twin Ring Motegi | 29 August |
| 6 | 17 October | |
| 7 | Suzuka International Racing Course | 31 October |
Results
Season summary
Championship standings
- Race points
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 20 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
- Qualifying points
| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 3 | 2 | 1 |