Suzuka International Racing Course guide

Circuits

Round 3 · Japanese Grand Prix

Suzuka International Racing Course

Name: Suzuka International Racing Course
Address: Suzuka, Japan

Suzuka, Japan

5.807 km

Lap length

Corners

Figure-of-eight

Direction

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F1 races held

first running

What makes it different

The only figure-of-eight on the calendar: the back section crosses over the pit straight on a bridge, so a single lap runs both clockwise and anticlockwise.
The corner called 130R is named for its 130 m radius - it is taken flat at around 300 km/h, and is one of the few genuinely committing corners left in Formula 1.
The first-sector esses are a linked sequence: a tenth lost at the first compounds through all of them, which is why the circuit has produced so few surprise pole positions since it joined the calendar in 1987.
The circuit doubles as a Honda-run theme park - Motopia, with its own Ferris wheel and go-karts, has sat trackside since the circuit opened as a Honda test facility in 1962.

Home race

Home race for Yuki Tsunoda.

Historic moments

2022 · A title clinched by a rule nobody had read properly

Torrential rain red-flagged the race after two laps and only 28 of the scheduled 53 were run before the three-hour clock ran out. The whole paddock, Max Verstappen included, assumed reduced points; the FIA then ruled that full points applied because the race had restarted, and he had won his second championship without knowing it.

2005 · Räikkönen's charge from 17th to victory

Kimi Räikkönen started 17th after a pre-race engine change, then carved through the field and ran down long-time leader Giancarlo Fisichella, passing him for the win on the very last lap. It's still regarded as one of the greatest single drives in Formula 1 history.

1990 · Senna's title-deciding collision

Ayrton Senna drove straight into Alain Prost's Ferrari at the first corner in 1990, taking both out and handing Senna his second title - payback, he admitted years later, for pole position sitting on the dirty side of the grid in 1989.

Japanese Grand Prix coverage

No coverage is tagged to the Japanese Grand Prix yet - stories are matched to a round while the weekend is running, so this fills in from practice onwards.

The Japanese Grand Prix preview has the session times and what to watch for, and the standings show where the season sits.

Japanese Grand Prix preview All 2026 circuits