The unsolved mystery of the Japan-backed McLaren F1 B team

History is littered with failed Formula 1 projects, but one of the most intriguing and confusing flops of this century was one aimed at getting Jean Alesi to be team principal and delivering Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 drive in a Ron Dennis-blessed Japanese be able. funded, McLaren-Mercedes B-Team.

The mysterious figure behind the Direxiv plan was Shin Akiyama, from Monaco who ran a Tokyo-based investment company that aimed to “promote motorsport” across Europe and Japan through “working with European organizations looking to enter the Japanese market expand”. . He came from a wealthy family, was run by a pharmaceutical company and had some cash to inject.