2011 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix
The city of Suzuka lies on the southeast coast of Japan's main island of Honshu and is 50
kilometres south west of Nagoya, Japan’s third largest city, belonging to the Mie
Prefecture. The car manufacturer, Honda, has major production plants in this city of
200,000 citizens. Suzuka's commerce is also focused on food, and textiles. Suzuka is
also home to a medical university and Buddhist temples & Shinto shrines.
Its European twin city likewise has a strong automotive connection: Le Mans in France.
This should be at the Fuji circuit if the rotational venues were to happen as planned a few years
back now, but Fuji is not likely to see F1 return, at least in the foreseeable future anyway.
The 5.8 Kilometre track is a relentless series of challenging, fast corners - headlined by the high speed snaking S bends, and the super-fast bravery test of the 130R.
F1 TIMETABLE (Brisbane Times)Friday 7 October 2011
Practice 1 11:00 - 12:30
Practice 2 15:00 - 16:30
Saturday 8 October 2011
Practice 3 12:00 - 13:00
Qualifying 15:00
Sunday 9 October 2011
Race 16:00Track InformationSuzuka Circuit
1st - 3rd October, 2010
Circuit Length: 5.807 km (3.608 miles)
Race Length: 53 laps (307.5 km, 191.2 miles)
Details: Permanent racing facility
Figure-8
Corners: 17 (10 right-hand and 7 left-hand corners)
Lap Record: 1:31.540 (Kimi Räikkönen, McLaren-Mercedes, 2005)
Official Website: www.mobilityland.co.jp
Top speed: 312 km/h (194 mph)
Average speed: 222 km/h (138 mph)
Time at full-throttle: 62%
Time under braking: 9%
Gear changes per lap: 36
Tyre compounds: Soft / Hard
Tyre wear: high
Brake demand: low
Downforce level: highDRS ZoneThe drag-reduction zone for the Japanese Grand Prix will be along the start/finish line at Suzuka, and will feature just the single zone.
Detection will be just after the famous 130R corner which is taken flat-out. The corner follows on from a long straight, giving cars a chance to slip-stream one another to close the gap to a second as they cross the detection line after turn 15.
Drivers can then activate their rear-wing as they exit turn 18 along the main start/finish straight before braking into turn one.
Aerial view (Click for larger)
2010 Results2010 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX
Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps1 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:31.465 32
2 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:31.860 0.395 29
3 11 Robert Kubica Renault 1:32.200 0.735 32
4 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:32.362 0.897 34
5 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:32.519 1.054 35
6 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.533 1.068 28
7 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:32.703 1.238 32
8 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:32.831 1.366 27
9 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:32.842 1.377 26
10 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:32.851 1.386 26
11 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:32.880 1.415 26
12 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.471 2.006 31
13 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.481 2.016 8
14 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:33.564 2.099 16
15 22 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.697 2.232 33
16 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:34.005 2.540 32
17 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:34.055 2.590 37
18 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:34.310 2.845 33
19 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:36.095 4.630 37
20 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:36.333 4.868 33
21 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:36.630 5.165 28
22 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:36.834 5.369 28
23 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:37.352 5.887 33
24 20 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:37.831 6.366 34
SUZUKA HISTORYDesigned as a Honda test track for its motorcycles in 1962 by John Hugenholtz,(the
Dutchman who also produced Zandvoort and Jarama), Suzuka is one of few circuits in the
world, and certainly the only one on the F1 calendar to have a figure 8 layout, with the
crossover being dealt with by means of an overpass. Since its establishment in 1962 as
Japan’s first full-fledged racing course, the centre of Japanese motorsports has been
Suzuka Circuit. It is located in the middle of a large motorcycle themes leisure park
dominated by its hallmark Ferris wheel and rollercoasters, originally built to entertain the
families and workers from the nearby Honda factory.
As Honda diversified into cars so the park grew to include automobile exhibits as well and
today it boasts swimming pools, ice skating rink, monorails, event halls, hotels, golf courses
and restaurants. Aside from the prestigious races held there, Suzuka Circuit has also been
active in establishing a school for fostering future racing talent, Honda's Racing School,
whose graduates include Takuma Sato, as well as hosting entry-level races and various
training courses for aspiring drivers..
At Suzuka, the Japanese Grand Prix has decided the driver’s championship nine times . Up
until Brazil being moved to the last race of the year in 2004 it traditionally held the final
round of the F1 Championships. The legendary Suzuka circuit has been the scene of many
classic F1 races.
In 2002, the circuit was reduced in length, courtesy of some realigning of several key
corners to provide greater run-off areas. Retaining walls were also moved back and the
track slightly altered at the S-Curves and Dunlop Curves.
Following two major accidents, in 2002, when Toyota driver Allan McNish suffered a
high-speed crash through the bump, which sent him through a metal fence; fortunately, he
was not seriously injured and 2003, (not in F1) the circuit's famous 130R corner, a 130
metres radius bend was reprofiled as a double-apex section, one with an 85 metres (279
ft) radius, and then a second featuring a 340 metres (1,115 ft) radius, leading to a much
closer Casio Triangle (chicane). The corner has still retained its challenge to drivers
though.
(* The Japanese have a preference to name their corners based on the radius of the corner i.e. 130R*)
The circuit has a long history of many important races on two wheels and four. Other
events include the Suzuka 8 hours for motorcycles (since 1978), the Moto GP World
Championship, until ironically in 2003 when, having just been made safer, as mentioned
before, local rider Daijiro Kato lost his life in the new section, on his way to the braking
zone for the Casio Triangle Chicane, and MotoGP has not returned to Suzuka since. The
Japanese Road Racing Grand Prix is another race held there, as is the Suzuka 1000km
endurance race, plus of course the local Japanese GT series...
NASCAR organized a pair of exhibition 100-lap races on the East Circuit, a 1.4 miles (2.3 km)
layout which utilizes the pit straight and esses, before rejoining the main circuit near the Casio Triangle.
The cars were Winston Cup and Winston West Series cars and the field was by invitation for
the two races, run after the 1996 and 1997 seasons. In fact in 1997 rain caused Goodyear to use
rain tyres in NASCAR for the very first time.
Although opened for the major races, the circuit was closed at the end of 2007 for a year
so that modifications and upgrades could be made to bring facilities up to (Bernie's) ever
increasing F1 standards, specifically for the circuit to host the 2009 race. It was always
very basic in terms of a cramped and outdated pit area, but this has all been completely
refurbished and expanded in line with current expectations. Following the withdrawal
of Mount Fuji from hosting the Japanese GP it was confirmed therace will be held at
Suzuka for the next 3 years.
Some of the best drivers of all time, in all categories, have raced there, all of them
claiming it as a true test of skill mastered by few. It remains one of the favourites of
every driver.
2010 marks the 22nd Japanese Grand Prix to be staged at Suzuka. Formula One debuted at
the track in 1987, prior to that two Japanese Grands Prix were held in 1976 and 1977 at
the Mount Fuji, which also hosted the Formula One events in 2007 and 2008. In 1994 and
1995 the Pacific GP was held at Japan's Aida circuit.
During the first GP at Suzuka, Nigel Mansell crashed his Williams-Honda in qualifying, injuring his ribs
and as a result lost his chance to be WDC that year, the honour going to Piquet. Also this
race track will be remembered for the legendary ongoing feuds between Alain Prost and
Ayrton Senna. In 1989, as McLaren team mates, Senna and Prost collided amid much
controversy (Prost got the title) and the following year they did it again although by then
Prost was driving for Ferrari, and it was Senna's turn to be World Champion. Senna
admitted to having crashed into Prost on purpose.
One of the most memorable duels on this track was between Michael Schumacher and Mika
Hakkinen, and in 2000 Schumacher won the first World title for Ferrari at Suzuka..
One thing that teams know about Suzuka is to be ready for anything nature can throw at
them. Not just the odd wet race, but far more extreme and indeed unique events and
forces of nature. Formula One had already had a taste of natural forces at Suzuka
back in 2000 when a mild earthquake and aftershocks were felt through the track
and paddock during FP1 The 2004 Japanese Grand Prix remains in the memory of the teams
who were there. On the Saturday the track was completely closed off due to an approaching
typhoon, which eventually made landfall elsewhere. Amid heavy downpours on Friday, the teams
had packed up and secured all their equipment. The all-clear came late on Saturday afternoon
and qualifying was eventually held on Sunday morning.
The Suzuka race track offers long fast corners, 310kph straights and short testing curves.
The course is considered technically challenging and usually produces the highest average
engine speed over a lap. Suzuka’s length is 5.807 km (3.644 miles) and it is a permanent road
circuit, clockwise. The spectators’ capacity is 100,000 .
This fabulous race track offers every type of corner in the book - from the spectacular
esses after the start, to the challenging Spoon curve and the tight hairpin, all the way to
the high-speed 130R.
It's quite a long circuit, very varied, and it flows beautifully. Many drivers rate the track
on par with Spa as their favourite driver challenge on a personal satisfaction level.
Takuma Sato scored his maiden Formula One points in his first home grand prix in 2002.
Prior to that, the last time a Japanese driver scored points at Suzuka was in 1990 when
Aguri Suzuki finished third for Lola, with compatriot Satoru Nakajima sixth for Tyrrell.
Nakajima was the first Japanese driver to race regularly in Formula One racing, partnering
Ayrton Senna in the Lotus-Honda team from the start of 1987.
The most successful driver in Japan is Michael Schumacher. The world champion has won at
Suzuka on five occasions - with Benetton in 1995 and with Ferrari in 1997, 2000, 2001 and
2002.
JAPANESE GP HISTORYThe first Japanese Grand Prix took place at Suzuka in 1963 and was a sportscar race which
was won a young British driver called Peter Warr, who would go on to become the motive
force in the Lotus F1 team after the death of Colin Chapman. The Japanese GP remained a
sportscar race until 1969 and was then held for Formula 2 cars between 1971 and 1975.
Suzuka has been the home of the Japanese Grand Prix since 1987, but prior to this two
races were held at the Mount Fuji track in 1976 and 1977. The only other Japanese circuit
to stage a Formula One race was the TI Circuit Aida where the Pacific Grand Prix was held
in 1994 and 1995.
The first Japanese F1 World Championship GP took place at the Mount Fuji circuit
in 1976, Briton James Hunt took the third position to win the World Championship by
one point from Niki Lauda, and Mario Andretti was the winner of the race.
The race was of course famously remembered more for the torrential rainfall that led up
to the race, and visibility was so poor that many drivers, including our own Larry Perkins
and Niki Lauda pulled into the pits after a couple of laps. The following year the race was
marred by an accident where Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson collided, Villeneuves
car vaulting a barrier and killing two marshalls. The race didn't return to Japan for 10
years, and when Honda influence finally swayed Formula 1 to return in 1987 F1 started
its association with Suzuka.
Japanese Grand Prix. Previous winners Suzuka.
Date Winner Team
2009 Seb Vettel Red Bull
2006 Fernando Alonso Renault
2005 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren
2004 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2003 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari
2002 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2001 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2000 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
1999 Mika Hakkinen McLaren
1998 Mika Hakkinen McLaren
1997 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
1996 Damon Hill Williams
1995 Michael Schumacher Benetton
1994 Damon Hill Williams
1993 Ayrton Senna McLaren
1992 Riccardo Patrese Williams
1991 Gerhard Berger McLaren
1990 Nelson Piquet Benetton
1989 Alessandro Nannini Benetton
1988 Ayrton Senna McLaren
1987 Gerhard Berger Ferrari
Previous winners Mt Fuji
2008 Fernando Alonso Renault
2007 Lewis Hamilton McLaren
1977 James Hunt McLaren
1976 Mario Andretti Lotus
THE TRACKOne of the greatest tracks used in Formula One today, Japan's Suzuka circuit is a massive
test of car and driver ability. It's a tough track for the engine as well: in the ultra-fast
130R turn you get lateral acceleration forces of up to 6g and it's essential the oil keeps
flowing. Even though 130R has been opened out in 2003, it is still pulling G's.
Suzuka includes some of the Grand Prix calendar's most challenging corners. Among the
drivers' favourites are the high-speed 130R and the famous Spoon Curve. On top of this the
circuit's figure-of-eight layout makes it unique in Formula One.
The crowd are pretty close to the Italians in terms of how knowledgeable and passionate
they are, although being Japanese they're also very reserved.
Local interest this year is Kamui Kobayashi in the BMW Sauber-Ferrari, and can be expected
to deliver something above their average this weekend on home ground.
Overtaking opportunities:Well, we have seen some of the most dramatic passes of all time at Suzuka, especially in
the 2005 race, but overtaking at Suzuka is normally done into the slowest corner on the
track, the 65 kph (40 mph) Casio Triangle chicane at the end of the lap. More difficult
passing moves can be performed into the 225 kph (140mph) First Corner and very
occasionally at the Turn 11 Hairpin. It is not known for being an easy place to overtake
but history shows that if you put your mind to it, it can be done with spectacular reaults.
The 2005 race proved that with some very memorable overtakes that year, notably Alonso
round the outside of Schumacher round the outside at 130R at 200mph, and Raikkonen's
similarly adventurous last lap move round the outside at First corner to take the lead and
win.
Some notable Suzuka events:2006Michael Schumacher's Ferrari blew its engine during the Japanese Grand Prix of 2006. The
first time his Ferrari had had an engine failure since France 2000. In fact it had only
happened twice before in his whole career at Ferrari. There was a roar of approval. A loud
roar. The F1 Media - the representatives of the fans (in theory at least) - did not want
Michael to win this one. Why did they react as they reacted? Here was a great champion
coming to the end of his era and the chroniclers of F1 history were cheering his demise.
Alonso won the race and they went to Brazil with Alonso 10 points ahead......
2005Kimi Raikkonen famously drove through the field from 16th place on the grid to pass
Fisichella, his current teamate, then driving for Renault, on the very last lap to take a
brilliant victory. Fernando Alonso's dice with Schumacher - which the Spaniard settled
with a spectacular outside pass at the daunting 130R corner - was another highlight
2004The year of the Typhoon, the day F1 battened down the hatches and all went tenpin bowling,
with qualifying postponed until Sunday.
2003Schumacher limped to his sixth title at Suzuka in 2003 with a scrappy drive to eighth place.
That was cutting things fine - but it was enough
2001Schumacher won the ninth time in the season and all time point record and powered from
pole victory ahead of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya in the William’s and Mclaren’s David
Coulthard.
French Jean Alesi retired after crashing out with Kimi Raikkonen. It was also two times
champion Mika Hakkinen’s final race.
2000The first world title for Ferrari for 21 years was won by Michael Schumacher and with this
victory he got his third championship. The earth moved for everyone on Friday when P1
was interrupted by a small earthquake.
1999McLaren's Mika Hakkinen led from start to finish, with the exception of three laps
following his first pit stop, to win the race and beat Ferrari's Eddie Irvine to the title.
Irvine took over the title chase when Michael Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone
earlier in the season. A second place for Schumacher and third for Irvine in Japan handed
Ferrari the constructors' title for the first time since 1983.
1998Hakkinen was second fastest in qualifying, but took the lead at the start when pole-setter
and sole title rival Michael Schumacher stalled at the lights and went to the back of the
grid. Schumacher roared back to third position but was forced to retire on lap 32 when his
right rear tire exploded. Hakkinen, driving for McLaren, won the race and the title.
1997Eddie Irvine handed Schumacher victory when he allowed his Ferrari teammate to pass him
and then blocked Williams' Jacques Villeneuve. Schumacher's win, and Villeneuve's
disqualification for ignoring a yellow flag, saw the title race go to the final round in Spain.
1996Jacques Villeneuve's chase of Hill ended when a wheel fell off his wagon.
“I’m afraid I am going to have to stop talking now because I have a lump in my throat.”
– Murray Walker commentating on Damon Hill’s 1996 Japanese Grand Prix Championship
winning race.
1995Schumacher won when the two Williams drivers fell over one another
1994Damon Hill was quite brilliant and beat Michael Schumacher fairly and squarely in horrible
weather conditions in what was a two part race.. Probably Hills best ever performance.
1993The great Brazilian showed his customary rain mastery to win the 1993 race in the underpowered
McLaren-Ford - and afterwards punched at young upstart Eddie Irvine, who he felt had failed to
show due respect while being lapped
1992Mansell dominated the race but gave the win to Riccardo Patrese as a thank you.
1991Senna dominated the race but handed over the victory to his pal and team mate Gerhard
Berger to say thank you for the Austrian's efforts.
1990Senna took revenge on Prost by wrapping up his second title but driving into Alain at the
first corner. This mess led to an emotional 1-2 result for Benetton with Piquet and a
tearful Roberto Moreno
Senna takes out Prost
1989It was at Suzuka that Alain Prost took Ayrton out of the race in the closing laps to ensure
himself the World Championship title. Ayrton continued but was DSQ'd for a push start .
Victory was given to Sandro Nannini
Alain and Ayrton get together at the chicane.
1988Ayrton Senna drove an amazing race after stalling at the start to secure his first World
Championship.
1987Nigel Mansell crashed in qualifying and went home with a bad back leaving his Williams team
mate Nelson Piquet to be World Champion
Mansell's Crash
Talking TecnicalCar dynamicsAverage turn angle indicates the average angle of a circuit's corners expressed in degrees.
The higher the average turn angle, the more acute the corners in the circuit's configuration
and the greater propensity for understeer to compromise lap time. Average turn angle at
Suzuka is 990 - which is below the average for the Championship. Suzuka is the only circuit
on the Formula One calendar to feature a figure-of-eight configuration.
The end of straight (EOS) speed at Suzuka was 311kp/h in 2006. The Japanese track ranks
as having the 4th highest EOS speed on the 2010 calendar, and this is one indicator of the
wing level typically selected to optimise the downforce/drag ratio. Meanwhile, Suzuka also
has the 3rd highest average lap speed of any of the tracks on the calendar.
SetupIn terms of set-up, you have to work hard to make sure you have a car with a good balance
and a good front end for the changes of direction, and a stable rear so you have the
confidence to attack the high-speed corners. The Esses section is an important part of the
lap as you have to cope with fifteen seconds of continuously changing direction, so it's very
demanding physically. You also need to keep your concentration as there is only one line
through the corners and any mistakes cost you a lot of time.
AerodynamicsA medium to high downforce set-up.
BrakingBraking performance is less important here than most circuits and we should not see any of
the issues that cars faced with say Singapore. Suzuka is one of the two lightest circuits on
brakes overall, because you don't have the combination long straight/low speed corner
which hurts the brakes, however braking into the chicane before the pit straight is fairly
brutal. You also have good brake cooling because the average speed is quite high. So it's
light on brakes
Tyres going the Soft / Hard compounds for this race.
Pitlane strategyThe pitlane length and profile contribute to the determination of the optimum strategy.
The pitlane loss at Suzuka is approximately 19.9 seconds, which is the 10th most
penalising pitlane in the Championship. To complete a normalised distance of 5km around
Pit Stop Schedule
1 stop Laps 30-34
2 stops 16-21, 32-38
3 stops 15-17, 26-30, 38-41
Safety carAnother key contributor to the determination of race strategy is the likelihood of safety
car deployments, which are influenced by weather considerations, the availability of clear
run-off areas that allow racing to continue while recovery takes place and the circuit
profile, especially the character of the entry and exit into turn one at the start of the
race. There have been two safety car deployment during the six previous races at
Suzuka which means the circuit's character is unlikely to induce a safety car period.
Temperature, pressure & humidity.Air density is a factor of the prevailing ambient temperature, which varies most
significantly by season, air pressure which is closely linked to altitude and, to a much
smaller degree, by humidity. Thus if races are run at the same time each year, the factor
that tends to have the greatest bearing on air density is elevation. Suzuka is 50m above sea
level and has the 6th highest average pressure (1,009 mbar) of any race venue in the 2010
championship. As a consequence, the circuit's ambient characteristics will have little effect
on engine power.
WEATHERSuzuka is generally regarded as one of the tracks most susceptible to turbulent weather.
But curiously it tends to be in practice and qualifying, not the race, that rain intervenes
- apart from a damp start in 1995 and mid-race drizzle in 2000, Suzuka hasn't seen a wet
GP since the 1994 downpour.
Who will win?
Red Bull should be well suited to Suzuka's ultra-fast corners, and is perhaps looking good
to win the race.
Ferrari have run out of 'free' engines, so are struggling to keep what they have running, so could Alonso take out a hat trick of races. Massa was lucky in a way to have got a 'free' engine at Singapore due to failing to put in a qualifying time.
Can not forget the McLaren's, and Hamilton will want to make up for 'lost time' after both Monza and Singapore.
Current (pre Japanese GP)WDC points:Pos Driver Nationality Team Points1 Sebastian Vettel German RBR-Renault 309
2 Jenson Button British McLaren-Mercedes 185
3 Fernando Alonso Spanish Ferrari 184
4 Mark Webber Australian RBR-Renault 182
5 Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 168
6 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 84
7 Nico Rosberg German Mercedes 62
8 Michael Schumacher German Mercedes 52
9 Vitaly Petrov Russian Renault 34
10 Nick Heidfeld German Renault 34
11 Adrian Sutil German Force India-Mercedes 28
12 Kamui Kobayashi Japanese Sauber-Ferrari 27
13 Paul di Resta British Force India-Mercedes 20
14 Jaime Alguersuari Spanish STR-Ferrari 16
15 Sebastien Buemi Swiss STR-Ferrari 13
16 Sergio Perez Mexican Sauber-Ferrari 9
17 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Williams-Cosworth 4
18 Bruno Senna Brazilian Renault 2
19 Pastor Maldonado Venezuelan Williams-Cosworth 1
20 Pedro de la Rosa Spanish Sauber-Ferrari 0
21 Jarno Trulli Italian Lotus-Renault 0
22 Heikki Kovalainen Finnish Lotus-Renault 0
23 Vitantonio Liuzzi Italian HRT-Cosworth 0
24 Jerome d'Ambrosio Belgian Virgin-Cosworth 0
25 Timo Glock German Virgin-Cosworth 0
26 Narain Karthikeyan Indian HRT-Cosworth 0
27 Daniel Ricciardo Australian HRT-Cosworth 0
28 Karun Chandhok Indian Lotus-Renault 0
FIA Formula 1 constructors' world championshipPos Team Points1 RBR-Renault 491
2 McLaren-Mercedes 353
3 Ferrari 268
4 Mercedes 114
5 Renault 70
6 Force India-Mercedes 48
7 Sauber-Ferrari 36
8 STR-Ferrari 29
9 Williams-Cosworth 5
10 Lotus-Renault 0
11 HRT-Cosworth 0
12 Virgin-Cosworth 0
On the Internet
[url=http://formula1.com]Live Timing (Registration required)[/size][/url]
LOCAL WEATHER FORECASTInformation sourced from here, there and everywhere. Enjoy!
Topic: 2011 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX (Suzuka) 07 - 09 Oct (Read 624 times)
