Round eighteen sees F1 return to Japan following a two-year hiatus due to Covid restrictions and Suzuka one of the favourites of drivers. Originally designed by John “Hans” Hugenholtz in the late 1950s the circuit is similar to Zandvoort and is one of few figures of eight circuits in the world.
The 3.6-mile circuit first held the race as a world championship round in 1987 and has been the home of the race for all but two running’s since then. Fuji held four championship rounds in the mid-1970s and 2000s. but Suzuka is a circuit which presents teams a circuit where downforce out weights straight line speed, although the straight is a good place for overtaking.
The circuit is one which driver love as it’s an old-school circuit which punishes mistakes and where there is difficulty through the twisting corners for drivers to overtake. It’s a tricky circuit which requires drivers who can attack the circuit, and push themselves to the limits. But mistakes are costly as the barriers are close and not as much run-off areas as at modern circuits.
This weekend the eyes will be on Max Verstappen, the Dutchman has another chance to take his second title. Red Bull has been a good all-rounder and this circuit is very similar to both Zandvoort and Budapest where they took victory. it requires high downforce and is a twisty circuit where overtaking can be difficult but rewarding.
The first championship Grand Prix held at Fuji Speedway in 1976 is one of the most famous, of many title deciders in Japan. It put James Hunt and Niki Lauda as it was held during monsoon conditions. Lauda, who had survived a near-fatal crash at the German Grand Prix earlier in the season, withdrew from the race.
Despite conditions, Hunt stayed in the race finishing third claiming the title by a point after Lauda retired. The race was won by Mario Andretti when he managed to lap the entire field his victory the longest time between a first and second victory of a driver in the sport.
Although originally scheduled for an April slot in the 1978 season (which was cancelled), the race did not reappear on the Formula One calendar for another decade, and the race did not return to Fuji until 2007.
After a decade the sport Returned to Japan, to Suzuka which has been a hugely popular circuit as it’s the only figure-eight racetrack to appear on the F1 calendar. Over the last three and a half decades the circuit has been the scene of some of the most dramatic and memorable moments in Formula One history.
The late 1980s and early 1990s would be defined by feuding McLaren teammates Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. The height of the rivalry being the 1990 title decider, senna felt that pole was on the dirty side, he didn’t yield and move over for the Frenchman with them both crashing out at Turn One. That gave him his second title by default.
That followed on from a crash the previous season at the final chicane, which handed Prost the title. Senna was off the racing line and it would be more difficult for him to make a better start. Frustrated and angry, Senna mimicked Prost’s statement of the previous year saying he would not move over if Prost attempted to overtake in the first corner.
1991 was yet again the showdown for the Drivers’ Championship, and it saw Senna and this time Mansell in a competitive but rather unreliable Williams battle for the Drivers’ Championship. Prost did not win a race in his uncompetitive Senna admitted during the weekend his actions the previous tear were intentional, and he then called Balestre and the rest of the governing body “stupid people”.
The 1996 race say Damon Hill taking the win and the title after his rival Williams team-mate Jacques Villeneuve retired after losing a tyre at the start of lap thirty-seven. That made Hill the first son of a champion to become a champion. Villeneuve would take victory in 1997 but was disqualified for ignoring yellow flags during one of the practice sessions.
1998 saw another dramatic title decider between Schumacher and Finn Mika Häkkinen. The two drivers had duelled all season long and Häkkinen led Schumacher by four points heading into the final race at Suzuka. Schumacher started on pole for the race but stalled on the grid, giving Häkkinen in second a clear track in front of him for the start.
The Ferrari driver started from the back and caught up with his McLaren rival before running over debris from a collision between backmarkers. The debris caused a tyre to burst and Schumacher to retire three laps later, allowing Mika Häkkinen to take his first title, he did the same thing the following season.
The first five races of the 2000s were all won by Ferrari, four by Schumacher and one by teammate Rubens Barrichello. The German took advantage of the speed of his Ferrari and mixed conditions to take his third world title and the teams first drivers championship in two decades.
Of the dominance of Ferrari in that period, 2003 was probably the most challenging, given the difficulties overtaking. Schumacher needed to come at least eighth, he started at fourteenth on the grid, but managed to secure the point he needed to take his sixth World Drivers’ Championship, beating the record held by Juan Manuel Fangio. His race also nearly ended in a collision with Takuma Sato and his brother Ralf.
2004 saw the first of three qualifying sessions at Suzuka run on Sunday due to bad weather, but it was another race where Schumacher took victory in his all concurring Ferrari.
The following season was one of the most exciting races of the season, several drivers missing out in mixed conditions during qualifying. Kimi Raikkonen took victory from seventeenth, he overtook Giancarlo Fisichella at the beginning of the last lap – after Fisichella was blocked by a backmarker. At the 2006 event, Michael Schumacher led until an engine failure virtually ended his chances of an eighth championship, which went to Spaniard Fernando Alonso.
The 2007 and 2008 races saw a brief return to Fuji, Lewis Hamilton took victory in torrential rain after Alonso crashed out allowing Heikki Kovalainen to finish second ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, the first time that two Finnish drivers were together on the podium. In 2008, the first corner brought trouble for both the title contending McLarens and Ferraris, and Fernando Alonso was able to take the victory in a Renault. Hamilton finished out the points while title rival Felipe Massa only finished seventh.
2009 saw the race return to a redesigned Suzuka in what was intended to be a bi-annual deal with Fuji but that deal collapsed amidst the financial crisis. Until 2019 and for the foreseeable future the rebuilt circuit. The 2009 and 2010 race were won by Sebastian Vettel.
The Red Bull driver took his second title with third in 2011, with Jenson Button (the only driver in the field who had a theoretical chance of beating Vettel to the title) winning the race wearing a special tribute helmet to the people affected by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and the Fukushima disaster.
Kamui Kobayashi took third place, after enduring race-long pressure from Button. Kobayashi became the first Japanese driver to finish on podium in Japan in twenty-two years, after Aguri Suzuki in the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix.
2014 saw the race stopped after a crash of Marussia driver Jules Bianchi, the Frenchman spun off into a crane recovering the car of Adrian Sutil. His accident lead to his death nine months later because of his head injuries.
That year saw the start of Mercedes domination, with six back to back wins before the pandemic. Four of them by Hamilton. In 2015, the Englishman won the race, having overtaken Rosberg at the start, who fell back to fourth but recovered to finish second. Rosberg’s deficit in the Drivers’ Championship therefore increased to 48 points. Sebastian Vettel finished third for Ferrari.
Race & Circuit Guide
| Round | 18 of 22 | |
| Race | Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022 | |
| Venue | Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, Japan | |
| Configuration | 2003 Grand Prix | |
| Circuit Length | 5.807 km (3.608 miles) | |
| Laps | 53 | |
| Race Distance | 307.471 km (191.053 miles) | |
| Lap Record | Race | 01:31.540 (Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren, 2005) |
| Most wins drivers | Michael Schumacher (6) | |
| Most wins manufacture | McLaren (9) | |
Fast facts
- Japan was the only Asian nation to host a Formula One race (including the Pacific Grand Prix) until Malaysia joined the calendar in 1999 and the only nation to host two races after Singapore.
- The 1976 race was not “Japanese Grand Prix” but was “Formula One World Championship in Japan” because an event of the Japanese Formula 2000 championship had been named “Japanese Grand Prix” in 1976.
- Three qualifying sessions have had to be held on Sunday morning due to bad weather on Saturday afternoon, 2004, 2010 and 2019.
- The 2009 and 2018 Japanese Grands Prix are the only races at Suzuka where the top three finished in the order which they started.
- There have been eleven occasions where a World Champion has been crowned at Suzuka, including in five consecutive seasons between 1987 and 1991. In addition to Drivers’ Championships, the Constructors’ Championship has been decided here nine times, most recently in Mercedes’ favour in 2019.
How Max Verstappen wins thew
Verstappen will be able to wrap up the title in Japan as long as he has a 112-point lead over his nearest rival at the end of the race. That is a much more likely outcome as he already has a 116-point lead and therefore by simply maintaining or extending his advantage over the next two races, he will be crowned champion in Japan.
He can also afford to drop the following amount of points to his rivals over the next two races and still be crowned champion in Japan:
- Four points to Leclerc
- Nine points to Perez
- 16 points to Russell
- 44 points to Sainz
That means a victory at one of the remaining races and second place at the other will secure the title for Verstappen regardless of the results of other drivers or he can secure the title with a victory at one race, a third place at the other and a single fastest lap.
Event timetable
Session |
Local (JST) |
UK (BST) |
Friday |
||
| P1 | 12:00-13:00 | 04:00-05:00 |
| P2 | 15:00-16:00 | 07:00-08:00 |
Saturday |
||
| P3 | 12:00-13:00 | 04:00-05:00 |
| Qualifying | 15:00-16:00 | 07:00-08:00 |
Sunday |
||
| Race | 14:00 | 06:00 |
What happened in 2019?
With a typhoon on Saturday, qualifying took place on Sunday morning creating extra pressure on the teams and drivers to get it right in qualifying. Vettel took pole by a tenth over teammate Leclerc, as the two Mercedes lined up behind.
Both Red Bull’s set exactly the same lap time, 0.787secs off the pace, a hugely impressive performance from the Anglo-Thai on his first visit to Suzuka.
Ferrari’s race, however, was another story, Bottas jumped into the lead as both Vettel and Leclerc made poor starts. That put him into control where he remained for the rest of the race.
The Italian teams’ problems started even before the start, the Ferrari rolled before the start, although an investigation subsequently did not invoke a penalty, the issue cost the polesitter crucial momentum. That then allowed the Mercedes into the lead as they bunched up into Turn Two, when Leclerc ran wide.
The Monacan, then ran into Verstappen, breaking his own front wing. Leclerc continued for two laps in third place, irritating Hamilton as the Ferrari’s damaged wing showered the chasing Mercedes with sparks and then debris, which broke Hamilton’s right-side wing mirror.
While Leclerc was awarded a five-second penalty for the Verstappen collision and Ferrari a €5,000 fine for the team not calling him sooner in for his damaged front wing. Albon lost out to both Ferrari’s at the start but used a two-stop strategy to finish fourth.
McLaren should have had a double point finish, but Lando Norris was caught in the debris of the collision of Verstappen Leclerc forcing him into an extra stop, dropping him to thirteenth.
But the win and second place for Mercedes was enough for the team to wrap up the constructors, as well as putting Hamilton on the brink of his sixth driver’s title.
Race Result – 1) V. Bottas, Mercedes, 01:21:46.755 2) S. Vettel, Ferrari, +00:13.343 3) L. Hamilton, Mercedes, +00:13.858,
What to watch for?
Max Verstappen has his second chance to wrap up his second championship this weekend, title permeations above, this circuit I think is one which should suit Red Bull. The dutchman has looked quick over the whole season and its likely that is going into this weekend that Red Bull is going to be hard to beat unless there is a crazy race or they make mistakes on track or get caught out by others making mistakes.
Suzuka is a high-speed but technical circuit which requires more downforce but without compromising the teams on the straight in Turn One and then through the Esses you need downforce it’s a circuit about getting the balance right. This is an old circuit which means it carries the risk v reward factor when it comes to overtaking, that can lead to safety cars if drivers get beached in the race also about strategy as overtaking can be more difficult.
The challenge for Mercedes, while they have made progress, will be the bouncing and the struggles they have had at circuits with hills throughout this season. I think we can’t count them out totally as they are making great progress as they look towards next year, but they are retaining that ability to pick up the pieces if things, as they have, go wrong for Ferrari. Ferrari is likely to be a threat if they get it right.
Singapore in my view underlined the advantage that Alpine has in the battle with McLaren, the French manufacturer looked quick all weekend and they have the advantage of both drivers being on it. Daniel Ricciardo, I believe hasn’t picked up the headline grabbing results or performances he needs to stay in the sport, I mean he has no control of market forces.
Alpine were quick in Budapest and Zandvoort which I believe is a comparable circuit to Suzuka you can never discount both drivers and we have seen that strength of them working together and scoring points at several races over the last eighteen months. We in my view have seen the likes of McLaren and Alpha Tauri slip away.
2018 vs 2019 Race Data
P1 Fastest |
P2 Fastest |
P3 Fastest |
Q1 Fastest |
Q2 Fastest |
Q3 Fastest |
Race Time |
Fastest Lap |
|
2019 |
01:28.731 | 01:27.785 | Cancelled | 01:28.988 | 01:27.688 | 01:27.064 | 01:21:46.755 | 01:30.983 |
Diff |
-0.040 | -0.432 | N/A | +0.286 | +0.299 | -0.969 | -06:29.693 | -1.335 |
2018 |
01:28.691 | 01:28.217 | 01:29.599 | 01:28.702 | 01:27.987 | 01:27.760 | 01:27:17.062 | 01:32.318 |
Tyres
White Hard (C1) |
Yellow Medium (C2) |
Red Soft (C3) |
