Tag: Suzuka

Japanese Grand Prix staying at Suzuka through 2029

The Japanese Grand Prix will remain on the Formula 1 calendar until at least the end of the 2029 season following a five-year contract extension for Suzuka. The iconic circuit has been the home of the race since 1987 – except for a two-year return …

The Japanese Grand Prix will remain on the Formula 1 calendar until at least the end of the 2029 season following a five-year contract extension for Suzuka.

The iconic circuit has been the home of the race since 1987 — except for a two-year return to Fuji in the late 2000s — and is a firm favorite with drivers and fans given its high-speed sweeping nature and need for precision. In announcing the extended deal, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali acknowledged the status the track has within the series.

“Suzuka is a special circuit and part of the fabric of the sport, so I am delighted that F1 will continue to race there until at least 2029,” Domenicali said. “As we prepare to return to Japan earlier than usual this season, l would like to express my huge gratitude to the promoter and team at Honda MobilityLand for supporting our effort towards greater calendar rationalization as we look to make the sport more sustainable.

“Our fans in Japan embrace Formula 1 with a unique passion and we look forward to working with the promoter to give fans the experience they deserve for years to come.”

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Suzuka traditionally had a spot in October on the calendar up until the end of last season, with this year’s edition taking place in early April as the fourth round of the championship. That race was set to be the last of the original deal, prior to the agreement of the five-year extension.

“I am pleased that we will be able to continue hosting the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit from 2025 onwards,” Honda MobilityLand president Tsuyoshi Saito said. “I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Stefano Domenicali and other related Formula 1 members.

“We aim to create a sustainable future and currently we are preparing to welcome many fans for the 2024 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix in April, the first time the event will be held in the spring season. We will continue to work together with the local communities and government agencies, including Mie Prefecture and Suzuka City, so that Suzuka can continue to be loved by fans around the world and contribute to the prosperity of motorsports culture and industrial development.”

Sargeant to start from Suzuka pitlane after Williams rebuild

Logan Sargeant will start the Japanese Grand Prix from the pit lane as Williams plans setup experiments as part of its car rebuild ahead of the race. The American rookie crashed a the start of Q1 and heavily damaged his car, leaving Williams with a …

Logan Sargeant will start the Japanese Grand Prix from the pit lane as Williams plans setup experiments as part of its car rebuild ahead of the race.

The American rookie crashed a the start of Q1 and heavily damaged his car, leaving Williams with a big repair job. While that work is mainly taking place on Sunday morning, Williams head of vehicle performance Dave Robson says the car should be ready in time and will be changed from the setup that started qualifying.

“Almost everything,” Robson said. “Spare chassis, spare power unit — a previously used one, so no additional penalty — spare gearbox — previous one — floor, rear wing, front wing…

“Not allowed to do very much overnight so it’s been sat there with covers on. We got the spare chassis out, did as much as we could for that. Team getting on with the build now.

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“It’ll be tight but it’ll be fine, no problem … we’ll make a few changes to the car set-up wise, because we might as well, and have a little experiment from the pitlane.”

Robson says the chassis change is only due to minor damage, and that Williams is not too tight on spares at this stage despite a number of recent incidents for Sargeant.

“It probably wont affect next year too much because I think we have enough parts around us. It just becomes a bit of a logistical exercise — how many do we want to actually ship and have at the circuit? What do we send on to the next, or back to the UK? I don’t think there’s too much panic. We’ll need to get that chassis repaired which will consume a bit of time at the factory, but otherwise we’ve got enough bits around us to carry on.

“Just some damage to the sidepod, radiator inlet — nothing major or structural. It’ll probably take longer to get it back to the UK than actually repair it.”

Suzuka track surface creates a slippery problem for drivers

A number of drivers have complained the track surface at Suzuka is making for challenging conditions at the Japanese Grand Prix. Lap times started to drop off during the long runs in a sign of high degradation levels, with multiple drivers saying …

A number of drivers have complained the track surface at Suzuka is making for challenging conditions at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Lap times started to drop off during the long runs in a sign of high degradation levels, with multiple drivers saying they were sliding through the first sector on race simulations. George Russell was fifth quickest overall but said he was caught out by the way the track was performing on Friday.

“There seems to be a huge amount of tire degradation,” Russell said. “It’s really weird — Suzuka is one of the best tracks in the world to drive, but this year it feels like the tarmac has really broken up and the cars are sliding on top of the surface. It’s giving a bit of a strange feeling to all the drivers out there, and that’s what’s contributing towards that tire degradation.”

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Russell’s comments were echoed by multiple drivers, but although teammate Lewis Hamilton was struggling even more, he felt part of his issues were due to car performance rather than the track itself.

“It’s a really bad day, to be honest,” Hamilton said. “Yeah, a real struggle out there. Long way off. Two seconds off in the first session, and over a second in the second. Just working away, trying to fix the car, fix the balance.

“It’s just figuring out what is wrong. We were obviously much closer in the last race, because we (had) only one high-speed corner, but it’s not as high as the speed of the corners here. And our car has more often than not been a little bit weaker in high-speed corners. Places like Silverstone for example –Copse, it’s one of our weaker corners.

“So (it’s) an area where we need to work on getting the car in more of a sweet spot, and not overheat our tires as much. We’ll work on it overnight and try and turn it around for tomorrow. We definitely won’t be winning this weekend.”

Despite the complaints there were few incidents, until just as FP2 was drawing to a close, Pierre Gasly carried a bit too much speed into the second Degner — the final corner before the track passes under itself — and locked up slightly, drifting wide into the gravel. Although he looked to have the Alpine under control, he made contact with the barrier that initially broke the front wing and then caused the left-front corner to fail.

“All good on my side — I’m feeling fine,” Gasly said. “Unfortunately I just locked up and tried to turn and couldn’t make the corner. So not ideal but the guys are going to repair the car all fine for tomorrow and go again.

“I think this morning was better in terms of performance but I didn’t feel good in the car in terms of balance, so we tried quite a few things in the afternoon which unfortunately didn’t bring what we hoped for, but at least it gives us some good direction. So I’m confident that for tomorrow we will put all the learnings from today together from Esteban (Ocon) and myself and try to maximize the package for qualifying.”

Suzuka builds ‘Buzzin’ Corner’ in Vettel-led effort to highlight biodiversity

Turn 2 at Suzuka for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix has been renamed “Buzzin’ Corner” as part of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel’s efforts to raise awareness of biodiversity issues. Vettel was on hand to oversee the build of 10 insect …

Turn 2 at Suzuka for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix has been renamed “Buzzin’ Corner” as part of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel’s efforts to raise awareness of biodiversity issues.

Vettel was on hand to oversee the build of 10 insect enclosures on the inside of Turn 2, where Formula 1 has also approved the curbs being painted black and yellow to highlight the cause. Vettel was joined by all of the drivers on Thursday afternoon as well as multiple team principals to promote the effort.

“The project is called ‘Buzzin’ Corner, racing for biodiversity,’” Vettel said. “The idea is to make a buzz, make noise and create awareness around the topic, and especially the loss and decline of biodiversity.

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“Biodiversity describes the variety of species, like how many animals, plants, living organisms, bacteria — all sorts, every sort of life there is, but also within a certain species how much variety there is and how much of an ecosystem, different ecosystems that we have, like woodlands, forests, deserts, the arctic, the rainforest, all types of ecosystems.

“Why yellow and black? The bee I think is a great ambassador with its colors, with the pattern, because everybody has immediately a picture in their head. We used her to spread the message.

“We painted the curb, but we also built these huts to create more habitat and space for wild insects, wild bees –not honeybees because they’re not at risk, but all sorts of wild insects; also bugs, butterflies, everything that crawls, and to have some space. Mostly for nesting, to hibernate, to find some food, which is obviously a small impact here at the track but change starts in your head, and that’s what we’re trying to aim for.”

“Buzzin’ Corner” biodiversity project inside Suzuka’s Turn 2. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

While prior to his retirement Vettel stated that he’d love to make a one-off return at Suzuka, he says he’s enjoying the new phase of his life having stopped racing.

“I’ve enjoyed this project. It’s obviously a small project, but I’ve enjoyed time so far this year — lots of ideas, lots of things I read up on. F1 was the center to my life for so long, but once you step out, you realize even more how big the rest of the world is, and in a way how small Formula 1 is.

“Not to take any excitement from the sport — it’s an amazing feeling to drive those cars. Of course I do miss that, but I also feel at some point it’s probably time for all of us to move on.”

Lewis Hamilton welcomed Vettel’s return to the paddock and his approach to using his voice to try and make a positive impact on matters outside the sport.

“It’s great, firstly, to have Seb back this weekend,” Hamilton said. “He sat down and told all the drivers of his plans. It was great to see that he’s found his purpose. To be honest, in the history of the sport, I don’t know any other driver who’s ever been so outspoken and shown real compassion for the world outside of this little world that we’re living in and it’s really great that he’s utilizing his platform.

“I just hope that with the things that he’s doing that he inspires the other drivers to do something along, maybe, in their own lane. But we all need to come together in this world to have a positive impact, to spread love, to spread compassion, to raise awareness for a lot of the problems.

“And there’s obviously millions of problems that we need to address, but biodiversity for sure, is… when he’s working with the bees here, raising awareness this weekend I think is a great way. It just sparks a bit of interest and raise awareness for people to understand exactly what and how important they are in terms of our ecosystem.”