Round 4 of the 2024 F1 season takes the circus to Suzuka for the Japanese GP. Max Verstappen heads into the race as championship leader, marginally ahead of Charles Leclerc. Although it is still early into the season, the race at Suzuka promises to be a thriller. With that in mind, here’s everything to look out for ahead of the Japanese GP this weekend.
The Japanese GP is a race that fans mostly witness much later on the calendar. But ahead of the 2024 season, F1 introduced a new calendar that brought the Japanese GP ahead.
This is because F1 wanted to geographically group races, in their effort to reduce carbon emissions. 2024’s installment of the Japanese GP will take place between 5th April 2024 and 7th April 2024.
2024 Japanese GP Time: Full Schedule
The race weekend kicks off on the 5th of April with FP1 and FP2. It then continues with FP3 and Qualifying on the 6th of April and will culminate on the 7th of April with the Grand Prix. For American viewers, however, the timings and even the dates will be slightly different.
The timings of the respective sessions for viewers in the USA (as per ET) are:
Free Practice 1, Thursday 4th April- 10:30 PM
Free Practice 2, Friday 5th April- 2:00 AM
Free Practice 3, Friday 5th April- 10:30 PM
Qualifying, Saturday 6th April- 2:00 AM
Race, Sunday 7th April- 12:55 AM
Weather in Suzuka ahead of Japanese GP
Earlier this week, an earthquake in Taiwan sent off Tsunami warnings in South Japan, thereby triggering rumors of a potential race cancelation. The warnings have been lifted since, and there is no official word on the race being canceled.
Kamui Kobayashi became the third Japanese driver to score a podium in front of a home crowd at the 2012 Grand Prix! #F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/sN117GVSeR
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 3, 2024
Regardless, the weather is expected to be cold, and wet. According to The Weather Channel, the forecast is as follows
Friday: Max- 64 F, Min- 52 F, Partly cloudy with high winds
Saturday: Max- 63, Min- 55 F, Cloudy weather all day long, with chances of rain 60% towards late afternoon/evening.
Sunday: Max- 70, Min- 54, Most chances of rain (43% around the time the race starts) with scattered showers throughout the day
Weather has played a key role in several Japanese Grand Prix over the last few years. For the favorite Verstappen, however, it is no big deal. The Dutchman built a lead of over 26 seconds in 28 laps in the wet conditions of Suzuka in 2022, the same race that saw him become a two-time world champion.
Japan 2022 Building a 26-second gap in 28 laps #F1 || #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/IE8Geg5Lzs
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 28, 2024
Japan’s iconic Suzuka Circuit
After being constructed in 1962, the Suzuka International Racing Course hosted its first F1 race in 1987. It is a track that racing fans and drivers love and look forward to visiting every single year. In 2020 and 2021, the race missed a spot on the calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, its return in 2022 was widely welcomed.
It is a high-speed circuit, with some iconic sectors such as the ‘S’ curves. The track also features a crossover, which is extremely unique and seldom seen in modern-day racing tracks.
Japanese GP distance and lap records
The 2024 Japanese GP will consist of 53 laps, around the F1 layout of the circuit which is 3.6 miles (5.807 km) long. The total distance a driver covers during these 53 laps is 191.5 miles (307.4 kms).
A lot of historic moments and battles have taken place in Suzuka over the years. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s incredible, yet controversial shunt took place at this circuit. Several years later, Fernando Alonso pulled off an incredible overtake against Michael Schumacher.
Senna Prost
The infamous incident still talked about 30 years on…#JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/KqIeds8K2h
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 9, 2019
Most recently, Verstappen won his second world title here in 2022, in a Grand Prix considered by many to be one of the most dominant wet-weather races of all time. Amidst all that, however, the record for the fastest lap time belongs to Lewis Hamilton, who clocked a 1:30.983 in 2019 while driving for Mercedes.
