Japanese 2026 GP preview

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

This grid’s history here