After Ferrari's surprising one-two in Australia, Formula 1 returns to Suzuka for the Japanese GP. The country of the Rising Sun hosts a Formula 1 World Championship race for the forty-ninth time, alternating between the Fuji and Suzuka circuits.
The Japanese circuit is one of the most technical and challenging in the entire world championship and is extremely stressful for the tires due to the numerous medium-high mileage corners which generate high lateral loads and a lot of energy: on the wear front, let's prepare for one of the most critical races of the entire season both due to the stress caused by the large lateral loads, both the thermal degradation and the roughness of the asphalt.
One of the peculiar characteristics of the track is its figure-8 shape, the only track in the world championship with this layout, which balances the loads on the left and right tyres.
MegaRide chart, Japanese GP
Photo credit: MegaRide
From the analysis of the tread temperature, high thermal stress can be seen on all the tyres: the snake in the first sector, from turn 3 to turn 7, is particularly critical. High stress is also evident in the hairpin bend in turn 14, “Spoon” and the “130R”, curve 15.
Due to the high lateral loads and the very abrasive asphalt, Pirelli is forced to use the three hardest compounds in its entire range: C1, C2 and C3.
The high difficulty in overtaking makes strategies very important. The weather variable, however, could mix things up by favoring spectacle and unpredictability in a very demanding stage, with the further variable given by the calendar.
Contrary to usual, the Japanese stage was scheduled at the beginning of the season; therefore, it remains to be understood how much this variation can influence the environmental conditions that the pilots and technicians will face this weekend.
MegaRide graph, Japanese GP: Tread temperature
Photo credit: MegaRide
Wear will be a fundamental theme for this weekend: together with the British circuit of Silverstone and the Belgian one of Spa-Francorchamps, the Suzuka track is one of the most critical. As shown by the graph representing tread wear, the circuit is decidedly severe on all tires due to the high lateral loads and the particularly abrasive asphalt.
The simulations indicate that the front tires are slightly more critical than the rear ones due to the high number of medium-high speed corners. The figure-eight layout, in this sense, causes a certain balance of loads, thus balancing the stress almost equally between the right and left sides. A multi-stop race is therefore expected in which tire management will be fundamental.
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