In a roundabout way, Ayao Komatsu can trace his Formula One career back to Beethoven.
Long before the Tokyo native left Japan to pursue a career in a sport dominated by Europeans, Komatsu’s father, Yuichiro, was blazing a unique trail of his own, having taught himself German in order to become a leading scholar on one of the world’s greatest composers.
“It just goes to show that if you got, let’s say, determination, you can pretty much do anything,” says Komatsu, 48.