Five Fast Facts about the Japanese Gran Prix

The Japanese Grand Prix started as a sportscar race held at Suzuka in 1963, won by Britain's Peter Warr driving a Lotus 23. A few years later, the race moved to Fuji Speedway and would evolve into a purely single-seater contest: firstly, for the Formula 2000 series (today known as Super Formula) before Formula 1 arrived in Japan for the final race of the 1976 season. This race became famous as the title decider between Niki Lauda and James Hunt held in incredibly wet conditions: Hunt won the championship after Lauda withdrew, and he went on to win the race itself a year later. But it would then be another decade before F1 returned to Japan. On what is said by many people to be the best Formula circuit in the world.

When F1 went back to Japan in 1987, it did so at Suzuka and the circuit has been the home of the Japanese GP ever since – with the exception of 2007 and 2008, when it was held at Fuji. Suzuka was developed in 1962 as a test track for Honda and was designed by Dutchman John Hugenholtz. His figure-of-eight layout has remained unique in F1 and has only undergone minor modifications in six decades since – such as the addition of the ‘Casio Triangle' chicane to slow cars down before they enter the main straight. Suzuka retains an old school feel, which makes it a real thrill to drive.

The fact that the track crosses over itself means that the high demands of the track are roughly evenly balanced between the left and right of the car. The snaking S bends at the start of the lap also help with this. Two other very famous corners are both left-handers: the long double-apex Spoon curve and the incredibly quick 130R – named for its 130-degree radius – which is taken flat-out. Then there are the Degner Curves in the middle of the lap: a fast right-hander, immediately followed by a tight 90-degree right, named after German motorcycle rider Ernst Degner, who crashed his Suzuki there in 1963.

The Japanese Grand Prix weekend is often affected by wet weather. Its date in the calendar – usually late September or early October – coincides with typhoon season in Japan, which has had a profound effect on the action in the past. That will change in 2024 though, when the race moves to April as part of a regionalisation programme to support sustainability and help logistics. Bad weather has meant that qualifying at Suzuka was moved to a Sunday morning on three occasions this century – in 2004, 2010 and 2019 – while the 2022 race was shortened because of torrential rain.

Local drivers have played a big part in the history of the Japanese Grand Prix. Noritake Takahara, Masahiro Hasemi and Kazuyoshi Hoshino became the first Japanese drivers to start an F1 race when they took part in the 1976 event at Fuji. Aguri Suzuki scored the first ever F1 podium finish for a Japanese driver when he finished third at Suzuka with the Larrousse team in 1990, and Kamui Kobayashi repeated the feat by achieving his first and only F1 podium at home in 2012. Today, Yuki Tsunoda flies the Japanese flag, driving for AlphaTauri.