Suzuka

Suzuka is a 5.807 km circuit in Mie Prefecture and the only Grade 1 track with a figure-eight layout: the 1.2 km back straight crosses over the front section of the lap on a bridge. It has 18 corners and a very high average speed, and it demands rhythm more than raw straight-line pace. The lap starts with Turn 1 and the S Curves, a quick left-right-left sequence that tests how well a car changes direction, then continues through the Dunlop and Degner curves, the hairpin and the long, fast Spoon.

After the crossover the drivers go through 130R, a flat-out left-hander that was redesigned after accidents in 2002 and 2003, and finish through the Casio Triangle chicane. Overtaking is difficult, so qualifying position matters and strategy plays a large part. The fastest official race lap is Kimi Antonelli's 1:30.965 from the 2025 race.

Suzuka was designed by the Dutch architect John Hugenholtz, who also drew Zandvoort, and opened in September 1962 as a test track for Honda. Honda still owns it. The Japanese Grand Prix moved to Suzuka in 1987 after the race's earlier home at Fuji Speedway had last held the event in 1977, and it has been there ever since, apart from 2007 and 2008 when it was held at Fuji.

Suzuka has decided several championships. The best known are the collisions between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in 1989 and 1990, which settled the title in Prost's favour in 1989 and Senna's in 1990. In 2014 Jules Bianchi crashed during a wet race and later died from his injuries, and safety measures at the circuit were changed as a result. The Degner curves are named after Ernst Degner. The race moved from autumn to spring in 2024 and has since run in March or April.

In 2026 the race was held on 29 March. Kimi Antonelli took pole with 1:28.778 and won for Mercedes ahead of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc, which made him the youngest leader of the drivers' championship at 19 years and 216 days. Oliver Bearman crashed heavily at Spoon after a big speed difference with Franco Colapinto's Alpine, and about 315,000 fans attended over the weekend.