After a thrilling race in the streets of Singapore, Formula 1 headed to one of its most loved venues on the calendar, Suzuka! For the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix.

THE AREA

Suzuka (鈴鹿市, Suzuka-shi) is a small to medium size city in Mie Prefecture, Japan, with an estimated population of about 200,000 people.

Suzuka, as a place name, is mentioned in the Nara period chronicle Nihon Shoki, around 710 AD. During the Edo period, much of the area was under the control of the 15,000 koku Kanbe Domain, ruled by the Honda clan from 1732 until the Meiji restoration in 1871.

After the start of the Meiji period, the area was organized as part of Suzuka District in 1889 and the town of Kanbe was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. On December 1, 1942, several villages merged to form the city of Suzuka.

Suzuka boasts a significant industrial market, having major factories for Sharp and Honda in its bounds. These companies outsource part of their labor to South American nationals to secure a contract-based workforce. Although the Japanese government encourages mandatory English-language education across the nation, in Suzuka, Portuguese and Spanish are also taught. From April 2004, all local signage is required to be in Japanese and Portuguese, but not English.

THE CIRCUIT

Suzuka Circuit is a Honda-owned racetrack. It has been the home of the Japanese Grand Prix from 1987, except in 2007, 2008, 2020, and 2021.

In the late 1950s, Soichiro Honda decided to develop a new permanent circuit as a Honda test track in Mie prefecture. The circuit was designed by Dutchman John "Hans" Hugenholtz and was unveiled in 1962. The most distinct characteristic is its figure-eight layout.

During its history, the circuit has been modified at least eight times. In 1983 a chicane was inserted at the last curve to slow the cars into the pit straight; In 1984 the first part of Spoon was made slightly slower, and the corner was brought closer to the track to expand run-off area there, and in 1985 the first corner was made slightly slower. In 1987 the circuit was brought up to F1 standards for the Japanese Grand Prix. The Degner curve was made into two corners instead of one long curve, and more crash barriers, more run-off areas were added. In 2002, the ultra-fast 130R was modified and some of the snake curves were made a bit straighter and faster; In 2003, the chicane was made slightly faster and closer to the 130R.

The current layout is 5.807 km (3.608 miles) long and has 18 corners, ten to the right and eight to the left.

THURSDAY

Sebastian Vettel was in the news as he inaugurated an ecological initiative tied to the Suzuka Circuit during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. He constructed eleven beehives and placed them on the inside of Turn 2 at the iconic Suzuka circuit, demonstrating his ongoing dedication to environmental and wildlife causes. He plans to bring this biodiversity initiative to other tracks around the World.

FRIDAY

It was hot and uncharacteristically humid at Suzuka, albeit not as much as Singapore the week before.

FP1

Max Verstappen was the first driver out on track, although rather quickly he was followed by everybody else. By the way, several drivers were on the Pirelli test tires.

As expected, it was Verstappen setting the pace for everybody else to follow.

During the last few minutes, everyone was doing long runs, either on the medium tires or the soft ones, in any case, it was Max Verstappen’s 1:31.647 the fastest lap. He was followed by Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, and Yuki Tsunoda, the top five.

FP2

It was a bit hotter than FP1, but less humid. All in all, good conditions for some fast laps around this figure-eight racetrack.

After a tough time in Singapore, it was expected to have Red Bull up front, and that is exactly what happened.

FP2 went fine until Pierre Gasly found the barrier at the exit of Degner 2 with just 2 and a half minutes left in the session. Red Flag and end of the practice.

Fastest was Max Verstappen, followed by Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, and George Russell, the top five.

SATURDAY

It was announced that Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo will race for AlphaTauri in 2024, and Liam Lawson to fulfill reserve driver duties for the Italian squad and sister team Red Bull, focusing on testing, simulator sessions, and development work, attending all the races full time.

FP3

It was sunny, hot, and not as humid as the day before for the final practice of the weekend.

With the first five minutes gone, no car was on track until Sainz brought his Ferrari out, followed a minute later by his teammate.

Impressive pace was shown from both McLaren cars, second and third in the FP3 timetable, Norris just 0.240 behind leader Verstappen, and Piastri only 0.048 behind his teammate. Then came Perez, Leclerc, and Sainz, the top six.

QUALIFYING

It was still very hot, and windy at Suzuka.

Q1

Qualifying started with thirteen of the twenty drivers setting early lap times. Verstappen went to the top of the charts with a 1m 29.878s, 0.185s quicker than Norris. Perez did the third time, but 0.774s behind his teammate. The Mercedes boys are over a second back, as Hamilton complains about a very hot seat. Then, a Red Flag with 9.05 minutes to go as Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams on the final corner. He lost grip on the rear tires causing oversteer, and when tried to correct it, the car slid through the gravel and onto the barriers.

Q1 resumed and in the end, it was Verstappen the fastest, followed by Norris, and Leclerc.

Eliminated were Bottas, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Zhou, and Sargeant.

Q2

The second round of qualifying started in roughly the same order as Q1, with Verstappen setting a fast lap early on.

After the first wave, Verstappen, Piastri, and Norris all remained in the pits and saved some soft tires while the rest of the field pushed for improvements, with Leclerc climbing to the top, Perez to P3, just behind Verstappen, then came Hamilton, and Sainz. Piastri ended sixth, ahead of Tsunoda, Russell, and Norris. Alonso grabbed the final Q3 spot at the expense of Lawson.

Not continuing were Lawson, Gasly, Albon, Ocon, and Magnussen.

Q3

Verstappen set an initial time of 1:29.012 during the early moments of Q3, but he quickly improved to 1:28.877 on his second attempt, showcasing a dominant performance that left him over half a second ahead of Piastri and Norris. Neither Piastri nor Norris managed to better their initial lap times before the checkered flag dropped.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc secured the fourth position, narrowly edging out Red Bull's Sergio Perez. His teammate, Carlos Sainz, rounded out the top six positions. Both Ferrari drivers completed only one lap each in the pole shootout, as they had already used up their supply of soft tires earlier in the session.

SUNDAY

It was a bright and sunny day ahead of the Grand Prix, no threat of rain on the horizon. Red Bull had already said this track would suit their car, and after Singapore’s odd performance, they wanted to demonstrate their dominance again.

The Grand Prix started with the top three moving at unison, but while Verstappen moved right to protect from Piastri, he left enough room for Norris to move alongside through the first corner. Meanwhile, there was contact and lots of debris flying about down the back.

Replays showed Perez jinked to the left to avoid Sainz, made contact with Hamilton and sending him onto the grass. A bit further back, Ocon, Zhou, Bottas and Albon touched, with Albon getting airborne as a result. All four drivers pitted for repairs at the end of the lap, with Sargeant also pitting to serve his time (10 seconds) penalty. The Safety Car headed out on track to allow marshals to retrieve the debris, which by now, was all over the track.

On Lap 3, Perez went into the pits for a new front wing, but the Mexican was subsequently noted for a Safety Car infringement, which turned into a five-second penalty.

With the debris cleared, the Safety Car came in at the end of Lap 4 and released Verstappen back into clear air, ahead of Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Sainz, Alonso, Hamilton, and Russell, as Lawson and Tsunoda held the final points-paying positions.

A few laps later the Mercedes drivers had some fun with wheel-to-wheel action between them. A battle won by Hamilton. Meanwhile, Perez tried a desperate move on Magnussen, sending the Dane into a spin, and ruining his race. Perez pitted for yet another new front wing, and then he was issued another five-second penalty, this one for causing a collision.

A VSC (Virtual Safety Car) was deployed to clean the debris. And a few minutes later, Red Bull told Perez to box and retire the car.

Piastri was the only one of the front runners to take advantage of the VSC pitting for a new set of tires.

On Lap 17, Verstappen pitted, losing the lead to Norris. He took another set of mediums. Norris pitted a lap later, handing the lead back to Verstappen.

The order was Verstappen, Piastri, and Norris, but the McLaren team decided to swap positions, and the drivers obliged on Lap 27.

Then, a highly controversial move by Red Bull, sending Perez back out on track to complete a lap and then serve the time penalties he was given earlier in the race, meaning no risk of a sanction carrying over to the next Grand Prix.

In the end it was Max Verstappen rounding off a perfect weekend, dominating the Japanese Grand Prix from start to finish. It was the Dutchman’s 48th win, and with it, Red Bull clinched their sixth Constructors’ World Championship title, with six Grands Prix remaining this season.

Joining Max on the podium were the two McLaren drivers, Lando Norris on his tenth podium, and Oscar Piastri securing his first one.

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