Suzuki was born in Tokyo; his father Masashi Suzuki was of mixed ancestry from Japan and Martinique. Masashi Suzuki had worked as an aircraft technician for Honda Airways, and in 1973 established a go-cart shop. Suzuki was named after the main character in the Kuri-chan comic strip. He attended Josai University majoring in the sciences, but did not complete his degree.
Suzuki began racing karts in 1972, at the age of 12. In 1978, he won the Japanese kart championship and in 1979 made his debut in the Japanese Formula Three (All-Japan F3) championship. He continued in karting and in 1981 was again Japanese Kart Champion. In 1983, he finished second in the All-Japan F3 series, driving a Hayashi-Toyota.
He then turned to touring car racing and, driving for the Nissan factory team, won the Japanese title in 1986. That same year, he made his debut in Japanese F2 and drove in the Le Mans 24 Hours. In 1987, he finished runner-up in the Japanese F3000 series, winning one race at Suzuka). In 1988, driving a March-Yamaha, he won the title with three wins at Fuji, Nishi-Nippon, and Suzuka).
In 1988, Suzuki raced in European F3000 with Footwork, before he debuted in Formula One on 30 October at his home race, replacing the ill Yannick Dalmas in the Larrousse-Lola. Zakspeed, who were using Yamaha engines, hired Suzuki for 1989, but he failed to pre-qualify in all 16 races.
For 1990 and 1991, Suzuki drove again for Larrousse. He finished sixth three times, before finishing third at Suzuka)—the first ever podium for an Asian driver in F1. He also set the second-fastest lap. In 1992 and 1993, Suzuki was at Footwork alongside Michele Alboreto and then Derek Warwick, but both usually outperformed him. He shared a Ligier with Martin Brundle in 1995, but only scored one point in his races, and was criticised by Mika Salo after the two collided in Buenos Aires.
Suzuki's Formula One career ended following a massive crash in practice for the 1995 Japanese Grand Prix. The crash caused a neck injury which saw him miss the race, and he immediately announced his retirement.
Suzuki scored a total of eight championship points in Formula One. At the time he retired, he was the second most successful Japanese F1 driver after Satoru Nakajima in terms of points scored, but Takuma Sato and Kamui Kobayashi have since passed them both.
Suzuki's helmet is white with a red line with black sides surrounding the top, a red and black line going from the rear down the chin (forming an A), and a black circle on the top.
Following his Formula One career, Suzuki raced in the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship and remained involved in Japanese driver development. In 1997, he formed Autobacs Racing Team Aguri (ARTA) in partnership with Autobacs. ARTA has competed mostly in Super GT, where they have won titles in both the GT500 and GT300 classes, including the GT300 title in 2002. Suzuki also launched Super Aguri Fernandez Racing with Adrian Fernandez in the Indy Racing League and expanded to Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters a season later.
From 2006, Suzuki ran the Super Aguri F1 team with the backing of Honda. He put the team together in four and a half months from his initial announcement on 1 November 2005. The team's initial entry was rejected by the FIA after they failed to secure financial guarantees before the entry deadline, and their acceptance was not formally confirmed until 26 January 2006. The team made its debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 12 March 2006. In 2007, Takuma Sato scored two top-eight finishes, earning the team its first points, and Super Aguri ended up ninth in the Constructors' World Championship. On 6 May 2008, the team withdrew from Formula One due to financial problems. Suzuki also formed Team Aguri, which raced in Formula E from 2014 to 2016.
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