ROUND 03 | JAPAN

Suzuka awaitsSuzuka awaits

2026 SEASON

Welcome to Japan

Japan is steeped in racing culture, and nowhere more so than Suzuka. Every corner is a masterpiece with names that trip off the tongue: Spoon; 130R; the Esses. It has the most enthusiastic fans and presents an opportunity for visitors to experience a culture quite unlike their own: Fernando and Jenson love it, having a profound affinity Samurai warriors and Japanese culture, respectively.

This is a home race and a homecoming for the team, as our works power unit partner, Honda, makes its return to F1 at the circuit that was created in the early 1960s as a Honda test track. Still owned by Honda, the figure-eight track in Mie Prefecture provides one of the sternest tests of F1 machinery and offers perhaps a better opportunity to show off the capabilities of the new cars than was the case in Albert Park and Shanghai.

This weekend is also the final time before the summer months that we'll see the three standard practice sessions. This is an opportunity to learn a lot about the AMR26, but also a chance to get Third Driver Jak Crawford into the car. Jak will be taking over Fernando's seat for FP1 on Friday morning, before Fernando gets back in for the afternoon.

RACE STARTS IN:

days

hrs

mins

secs

Session Times

FP1

FP2

FP3

Quali

Race

Toggle below to highlight parts of the track.

Sectors
Turns
Straight-line Mode
Overtake Mode

The first sector at Suzuka is key because you have so many high-speed corners. You need good aero balance to get to Degner 1 with the tyres in the perfect operating window.

Pedro de la Rosa

Number of corners
18
Number of laps
53
Race distance
307.471km

JAPANESE GP ESSENTIALS

THE CIRCUIT

THE STRATEGY

THE FACTS

THE TRAVEL GUIDE

LAST TIME OUT IN JAPAN

THE CIRCUIT

Designed by John Hugenholz, creator of Zandvoort, Suzuka began life as a Honda test track. It soon, however, became a staple of the racing calendar on both two and four wheels. If ever there were a track to push F1 cars to their absolute limit, this is it.

While Suzuka is predominantly high-speed, Sector One is where it is most evident, with the cars hammering down the hill on the start-finish straight, turning-in for T1 and scrubbing-off speed before braking for T2, then accelerating back up the hill again through the Esses and Dunlop. Rather like Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel at Silverstone, the fast changes of direction here show off F1 cars absolutely at their best, doing things no other racing cars can do.

The wind direction plays a significant role here. Being a few kilometres from the coast, Suzuka features switching onshore and offshore breezes. With a headwind into the Esses, the car has more downforce and is quicker. The impact on lap-time isn't massive, but the feeling in the cockpit can be very different.

The middle sector is more intricate. Degner I and Degner II thread the eye of a needle, with the cars leaping across the kerb at the first corner, with no margin for error with the run-off and the tyre barriers at Degner II waiting for anyone who strays off-line. From there, it's a short run to the low-speed Hairpin, the double-apex Spoon and then the backstraight.

Sector Three has the high-speed 130R corner, followed by the low-speed chicane. The presence of the latter presents a difficult choice for teams: The high-speed nature of the circuit demands a car running very stiff, but the car needs to be soft here to use the kerbs.

THE STRATEGY

The first three races of 2026 all carry forward the same tyre selections as 2025, and while the tyres this year are a little different, the race strategies so far have been the same, with both Australia and China being one-stop races, as they were in 2025.

Lance was the only driver to attempt a two-stop in last year's Japanese Grand Prix. Nine of the top-ten all ran a Medium-Hard one-stop race, with the outlier being Lewis Hamilton who reversed that for Hard-Medium. There's no reason to expect anything different this year – in fact, the race moves more into one-stop territory: these tyres are a little more sturdy, and the amount of lift and coast the drivers will have to do at the recharge-poor Suzuka Circuit will also reduce the amount of stress to which they're subjected. Will that be enough to allow teams to consider a Soft-Hard race? Only Jack Doohan tried it last year… but he did get to the chequered flag with reasonable pace.

THE FACTS

1 | This will be the 40th F1 World Championship Japanese Grand Prix. Four have been held at Fuji, the rest at Suzuka. Fuji hosted World Championship rounds in 1976 and 1977. The race then disappeared off the calendar for a decade, before returning at Suzuka in 1987. Fuji made a brief return in 2007 and 2008.

2 | Two additional World Championship F1 races were held in Japan in 1994 and 1995. The races were held at the Aida Circuit, and labelled as The Pacific Grand Prix.

3 | Fernando shares with Lewis Hamilton the distinction of having won the Japanese Grand Prix at two different venues, following up a 2006 victory at Suzuka with a second in 2008 at Fuji.

4 | Emphasising how difficult a place Suzuka is to overtake, 30 of 35 races here have been won from the front row: 19 from pole, 11 from P2. Of the other four, three have come from row three – but the real outlier is 2005, when Kimi Räikkönen won from P17.

5 | Our best qualifying performance at Suzuka was fifth place for Fernando in 2024. It was the fifth time he's started fifth at this circuit.

6 | Fernando is making his 19th appearance at Suzuka this weekend. Despite that – as well as being a previous winner at this racetrack – he has never started in the top three here.

7 | Ironically, Fernando lost out to an Aston Martin driver in a photo finish at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, when Sebastian Vettel beat him to the line to take sixth place by just 0.011s.

8 | The Drivers' Championship has been decided at the Japanese Grand Prix on 13 occasions. James Hunt did it at Fuji in the inaugural 1976 event followed by a dozen more at Suzuka, for Nelson Piquet (1987), Ayrton Senna (1988, 1990, 1991), Alain Prost (1989), Damon Hill (1996), Mika Häkkinen (1998, 1999), Michael Schumacher (2000, 2003), Sebastian Vettel, once of this parish, in 2011 and Max Verstappen (2022). The Constructors' Championship was never settled at Fuji, but has been won nine times at Suzuka.

THE TRAVEL GUIDE

Suzuka offers many excellent vantage points but for a first visit, definitely sit on the bleachers above the Esses – it's a little exposed when sub-tropical Suzuka turns into torrential rain Suzuka, but absolutely worth the risk to see F1 cars at their best.

You're also in the middle of the cherry orchards on that side of the track. The Japanese practice of Hanami inspires many flower viewing festivals and parties across the country in April, and honestly, even the hardened petrolheads of the F1 pitlane appreciate the tranquillity.

But if even the thought of getting back to nature is bringing you out in a cold sweat, don't worry, Suzuka has plenty of the other stuff. Being owned by Honda, there is, of course, a fabulous exhibition of classic F1 cars – the Honda Racing Gallery – you have to see.

Beyond the confines of the track, you get… Japan. One of the nicest things about this race is the opportunity to ignore international Japan, with the smaller towns and villages surrounding the circuit providing a quieter but more distinctly Japanese welcome.

However, if you're attracted by the lure of the big city, the train service is excellent, and Japan caters for all tastes. It's about 90 minutes from Suzuka to Kyoto, for anyone searching for a day of contemplation in the many Shrines and Temples in the hills that ring the city. If that's not your thing, a Mario Kart tour of Tokyo, whizzing around the streets of Shibuya in a go-kart, dressed as Donkey Kong is more fun that you can possibly imagine. Or, if you want to go properly old-school, take a shopping trip to Osaka's many record stores in the America-mura district to find some rare – and, being Japan, utterly immaculate – vinyl – check out Rare Groove Records and thank us later.

Set sail: From ancient temples to all-night karaoke bars, click here to discover Japan with Regent Seven Seas Cruises

LAST TIME OUT IN JAPAN

With no Japanese Grand Prix in 2021, we made our Suzuka debut the following season. Our best results in Mie Prefecture are P6 for Sebastian Vettel in 2022, matched by Fernando Alonso in 2024. Fernando added a P8 in 2023. Last year was our first failure to score in Japan, with Fernando finishing P11. It hasn't been a happy hunting ground for Lance in green, with him yet to score at Honda's home track.

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Jak Crawford is right where he wants to be – for now. Ahead of his Free Practice run at the Japanese Grand Prix, meet the Aston Martin Aramco driver who won't race in 2026 unless Lance or Fernando are unable to get behind the wheel.

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