Suzuka: The Ultimate Track Guide

Max Verstappen led home a Red Bull 1-2 at the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix, in a Suzuka race that was red-flagged on the opening lap.

After a crash for Logan Sargeant in a dry Free Practice 1, a wet Free Practice 2 meant that there was a lack of meaningful running on Friday at the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix. The dry conditions returned on Saturday, where Max Verstappen secured pole position ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez.

At the start of Sunday’s race, the Red Bulls held their formation with McLaren’s Lando Norris ahead of Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso. Racing lasted only a few corners before Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon made contact through the opening esses, with the duo hitting the barriers. The race was red-flagged while the wrecked cars were cleared away.

When the race restarted, the leaders once again maintained the same order. Further back, the two Alpine drivers made slight contact when leaving the starting grid. George Russell made up places in the opening laps, leading Mercedes to tell Lewis Hamilton to move aside to let his faster team-mate through into fifth position on Lap 14.

130R became a prime overtaking spot for Sergio Perez, who passed both Mercedes on consecutive laps at the fearsomely fast corner. Most drivers had made their first stops by the midpoint of the race, aside from Charles Leclerc, who Verstappen had to pass for the lead on track. On Lap 26, a wide moment for the Ferrari driver saw Perez take back second place.

In the midpack, Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll and Logan Sargeant all pitted at the same time, leading to the quintet all leaving the pit lane nose to tail. Sargeant later had his second trip into the gravel of the weekend, putting him half a lap behind the nearest car ahead.

Sainz fell from third to fifth place with a pit stop on Lap 37. The Ferrari driver soon began making up places, passing former team-mate Norris and Ferrari team-mate Leclerc to run third once more. Behind them, Oscar Piastri and George Russell made contact at the final chicane as the duo battled over seventh place, with Russell securing seventh on the final lap.

Verstappen led home a Red Bull 1-2, making it the fourth race in a row at which a team had secured a 1-2 finish. Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin were the only other teams to score points.

Verstappen clinched the victory and a sixth Constructors’ Championship win for Red Bull at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix, as both McLaren drivers finished on the podium.

While Pierre Gasly crashed out in Free Practice 2 at Suzuka, Logan Sargeant brought out the red flags in Q1 at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix as he crashed heavily at the final corner. Max Verstappen dominated on Saturday, setting the fastest lap time by over half a second. The two McLarens lined up behind him on the grid, with Oscar Piastri second and Lando Norris third.

The trio were three-wide on the run into Turn 1 but Verstappen was able to stay ahead. Further back, there was big contact in the mid-pack before Turn 1. The contact between Alex Albon and an Alfa Romeo brought out the Safety Car. There was more trouble for Alfa Romeo up at the hairpin, where Valtteri Bottas went off track after being hit by Sargeant’s Williams. Bottas retired from the race soon after.

The two Mercedes drivers battled for position when racing resumed, with both running off track multiple times. Meanwhile, Sergio Perez hit Kevin Magnussen’s Haas at the hairpin. The Red Bull subsequently retired from the race only to re-emerge a few laps later to serve the penalty which he had received for the earlier contact, before retiring again five minutes later.

Lewis Hamilton pulled off a move on Fernando Alonso at 130R. Towards the front, McLaren team-mates Norris and Piastri swapped positions, with Norris showing more pace than his rookie team-mate. There was more intra-team swapping at Mercedes, as Russell was told to let Hamilton by. It was a move which saw Carlos Sainz soon overtake Russell for P7.

Verstappen cruised to his 48^th career victory – a win which sealed a sixth Constructors’ Championship win for Red Bull. McLaren recorded their first double podium finish at Suzuka since 2003, with Norris as runner-up and Piastri recording the first podium finish of his career.

Rain-soaked Suzuka hosted Formula 1 for the first time in three years and Verstappen claimed his second World Championship in a shortened Japanese Grand Prix. 

Aquaplaning was an issue in opening practice for a wet Japanese Grand Prix weekend. Mick Schumacher crashed on his way back to the garage in the closing moments of the session. Fernando Alonso was fastest in the first on-track running at Suzuka in three years, while Mercedes topped the timesheets in Free Practice 2 – a session in which Nicholas Latifi mistook an access road for the track. 

Weather conditions were drier on Saturday and it was Max Verstappen who set the pace in both final practice and qualifying. That was despite the Dutchman encountering a near-miss with Lando Norris when the McLaren driver was setting a fast lap. Sebastian Vettel impressed, reaching Q3 with Aston Martin on his final Suzuka outing. 

More rain came on Sunday, with the Grand Prix starting in wet conditions. Verstappen led away at the front but there was chaos behind in the torrential conditions. First, Vettel found himself running through the gravel at Turn 1. Then, Carlos Sainz crashed later on Lap 1 and was lucky not to be collected by other oncoming cars. The Safety Car was deployed and the race was subsequently red-flagged for over two hours. Alex Albon also came to a stop on the opening lap, while Pierre Gasly was far from impressed after driving past a recovery vehicle unannounced on the circuit. 

Racing finally resumed with just under 40 minutes remaining on the clock. Vettel and Latifi stopped for intermediate tyres as the race restarted, with the frontrunners following them in on the next lap. That left Fernando Alonso leading the race for a lap. Mick Schumacher almost led a lap too, but was overtaken on the line by the already-pitted Verstappen.

Schumacher plummeted down the order as those on intermediates caught up with the Haas. The Mercedes men were on the move, with both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton making up places with some textbook overtaking moves. Hamilton almost made contact with Esteban Ocon’s Alpine through 130R.

Verstappen dominated the race, winning the 28-lap race by over 27 seconds. On the final lap, third-placed Sergio Perez had caught Charles Leclerc in second. Despite some wheel-to-wheel action, Perez was unable to pass on track. However, Leclerc ran off track at the final chicane and was handed a post-race penalty for the incident, making it a Red Bull 1-2. 

There was some confusion after the race over how many points would be awarded. As many had expected half points to be awarded for the shortened race, it was believed that Verstappen would be unable to win the title at Suzuka. However, the wording of the regulations – updated in 2022 – allowed full points to be awarded and Verstappen had done enough to clinch his second World Championship.

While Typhoon Hagibis affected the Suzuka schedule, Ferrari locked out the front row in Sunday qualifying, before Valtteri Bottas won and ensured the destiny of the 2019 championships in Mercedes’ favour.

The onset of Typhoon Hagibis led to an unusual Japanese Grand Prix weekend, with Saturday’s running cancelled and qualifying moved to Sunday morning. The weather was dry when qualifying finally began, but that didn’t prevent two Red Flag periods in Q1. The first was a result of Robert Kubica hitting the wall on the main straight in the Williams, and the second was for Kevin Magnussen who crashed in the same place.

Ferrari locked-out the front row, with Sebastian Vettel starting from pole position. Vettel made a poor start, and Valtteri Bottas swooped around both Ferrari drivers to take the lead. Charles Leclerc collided with Max Verstappen, sending the Red Bull driver into a spin. With damage flying from Leclerc’s car, he was called in to pit and the pair did battle again after they had both pitted.

Verstappen ultimately retired from the race, while his team-mate Alex Albon made an ambitious move on Lando Norris into the final chicane. As the race reached half distance, Lewis Hamilton questioned how he was so far down on the leading pair of Bottas and Vettel.

After the pit stops, Hamilton was on Vettel’s tail. He attempted an overtake at the first turn, but stayed behind the Ferrari. Sergio Perez crashed out of a points-paying position on the final lap – or at least he would have done, if the chequered flag had not been shown a lap early. Bottas won the race, with Vettel and Hamilton completing the podium. The result ensured that Mercedes would win a sixth consecutive Constructors’ Championship, and also ensured that the 2019 World Champion would be either Hamilton or Bottas.