Suzuka Circuit
Japan's iconic figure-of-eight circuit, home to Formula One and Super Formula.
The Suzuka Circuit is a 5.807 km long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan, and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. It is most well known for its use in the international Formula One and Japanese Super Formula championships.
Lore & Background
Soichiro Honda decided to develop a new permanent circuit in Mie prefecture in the late 1950s. Designed as a Honda test track in 1962 by Dutchman John 'Hans' Hugenholtz, the track has a figure-of-eight layout, with the 1.2 km long back straight passing over the front section by means of an overpass. It is the only FIA Grade 1 licensed track to have such a layout, after the Fiorano Circuit was downgraded to Grade 2 in 2024. The Degner curve was named in honour of Ernst Degner after he crashed his factory Suzuki 50 there during Suzuka's inaugural All Japan Championship Road Race meeting on 3 November 1962. At the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, F1 driver Jules Bianchi suffered serious injuries after colliding with a recovery vehicle, and died in hospital as a result nine months later. In the wake of the accident, the Dunlop corner was slightly changed and revised in safety standards, and the organisers of the Japanese Grand Prix installed a large crane in place of the tractor that Bianchi hit.
Reader's Guide
The circuit can be used in five configurations; the car full circuit, the motorcycle full circuit, the 'Suzuka east,' 'Suzuka west car,' and 'Suzuka west motorcycle' configurations. The 'east' portion of the course consists of the pit straight to the first half of the Dunlop curve (turn seven), before leading back to the pit straight via a tight right-hander. The 'west' course is made up of the other part of the full circuit, including the crossover bridge; the straight leading to the overpass is used for the start/finish line and the grid. The chicane between the hairpin and 200R separates the west and full course sections between cars and motorcycles. The circuit has been modified at least eight times, with changes in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 2002, 2003, after the death of Daijiro Kato at the 2003 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix, and in preparation for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix.
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