Japanese GP

Racing in the Land of the Rising SunRacing in the Land of the Rising Sun

2025 SEASON

The final stop on our early-season tour to the far side of the world also marked the first leg of the first triple-header of the season, with the Japanese Grand Prix leading onto races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

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 in particular loves it, having a profound affinity with Japan's ancient Samurai warriors, identifying with many of their beliefs.

Read on for all the key figures and stats from our Japanese Grand Prix weekend.

LanceStroll

20th

RACE POSITION

10th

DRIVER STANDING

Lance's profile

FernandoAlonso

11th

RACE POSITION

17th

DRIVER STANDING

Fernando's profile

Japanese Grand Prix race stats

1.5

Number of pitstops

14.499999999999998

Longest stint (laps)

Total laps

308

Total kilometres

LanceStroll

P20

Final position

P20

Starting position

Points

FernandoAlonso

P11

Final position

P12

Starting position

Points

Fastest lapM:S.MS

1:32.052

Lance

1:31.770

Fernando

Max speedKM/H

304.1

Lance

302.0

Fernando

Practice laps

Lance

Fernando

Qualifying laps

Lance

Fernando

Race laps

Lance

Fernando

Total laps

111

Lance

112

Fernando

Japanese Grand Prix

The Debrief by Aramco

A legendary circuit with an incredible atmosphere. Get the debrief on the Japanese Grand Prix.

TRACK INSIGHTS

Suzuka CircuitSuzuka Circuit

Degner 1 is especially difficult because it has a blind entry, so you don't see the inside apex until you are already committed on the entry.

Pedro de la Rosa – Aston Martin Aramco Team Ambassador

Toggle below to highlight parts of the track.

Sectors
Turns
DRS

Circuit length
5.807km
Number of corners
18
Race distance
307.471km

Talking Points

Pedro's guide to taming spectacular Suzuka

Aston Martin Aramco Team Ambassador Pedro de la Rosa reveals the biggest challenges ultra-demanding Suzuka poses to the drivers and teams.

NEED TO KNOW: JAPANESE GP

The essential Japan travel guide with Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Mastering Suzuka Circuit

Strategy insights from Suzuka

Ultimate Japanese Grand Prix facts

Last time out in Japan

The essential Japan travel guide with Regent Seven Seas Cruises

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 Grand prix is a long-established cornerstone of the F1 calendar, but moving the race to April has added an extra dimension to the race – because with the cherry trees in blossom, Suzuka looks absolutely magnificent. The Japanese practice of Hanami inspires many flower viewing festivals and parties across the country at this time of year, 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

Mastering Suzuka 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 laptime 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. Ordinarily, there wouldn't be a justification for compromising around one corner – but the chicane leads onto the start-finish straight, which is the only DRS zone and only real overtaking opportunity on this narrow track. Something to be considered.

Strategy insights from Suzuka

Suzuka is a tough race for the tyres, with a constant onslaught of high-energy corners and very little straight-line respite. Pirelli brings its three hardest compounds to this event to cope with those demands – but even with these, it's still a two-stop race. The real interest comes from predicting what sort of two-stop – because all options are on the table.

Last year, nine of the 10 teams retained either two Hard or two Medium tyres in their allocation for the race. Red Bull and Ferrari went for two Mediums; Mercedes, McLaren, Alpine, Williams, Racing Bulls and Sauber went for two Hards, while Haas split the difference. The team that didn't do either was us, Lance and Fernando preferring to take the maximum five sets of Soft tyres into qualifying.

A first-lap red flag skewed strategies a little, but most drivers ran a conventional two-stop race from the restart. Fernando, ran a Soft-Medium-Hard race – but Soft tyres were popular even with drivers that didn't need to use them; nine drivers in total using a C3 on either the original start or the restart.

Some drivers used the Soft for a very short opening stint of five or six laps, but Fernando kept his until Lap 13 – as long as some of the Medium-shod cars. The real outlier though, was Charles Leclerc. Officially, he did a two-stop race, shuffling his Medium sets at the red flag. He did, however, only make one more stop in the race, and effectively ran a Medium-Hard strategy to come home P4. This provides plenty of food for thought coming into the 2025 event.

Ultimate Japanese Grand Prix facts

1 | This will be the 39th 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, 29 of 34 races here have been won from the front row: 18 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 last year. It was the fifth time he's started fifth at this circuit.

6 | 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, by McLaren (1990, 1998), Benetton (1995), Williams (1997), Ferrari (1999, 2003), Mercedes (2016, 2019), Red Bull (2023).

Last time out in Japan

With no Japanese Grand Prix in 2021, we made our Suzuka debut the following season. We've scored points in Mie Prefecture each time we've visited. Sebastian Vettel finished sixth in 2022, followed by an eighth place for Fernando in 2023 and sixth last year, after a hard-charging Qualifying performance that saw him start fifth – our best grid spot at this circuit. Lance, however, is yet to score in Japan. He finished 12th in 2022 and 2024, and he retired in 2023 with a rear wing issue while running 12th.

Free Practice 1

Fri 4 APRIL03:30-04:30 BST

03:30-04:30 BST

Free Practice 2

Fri 4 APRIL07:00-08:00 BST

07:00-08:00 BST

Free Practice 3

Sat 5 APRIL03:30-04:30 BST

03:30-04:30 BST

Qualifying

Sat 5 APRIL07:00-08:00 BST

07:00-08:00 BST