Formula 1 returns to Japan just over six months after its last appearance. This year, in fact, for the first time in its history the Japanese Grand Prix takes place in the month of April: until last year the race was in fact placed in the final part, in September or October, so much so that many one or both world titles have been awarded on this track several times. The last two editions were no exception either: in 2022 Verstappen won his second championship in Suzuka and last year it was Red Bull who became Constructors' champion.
The fourth seasonal event coincides in the Asian country with the peak of the sakura season, the cherry blossoms that bloom between the end of March and the beginning of April. Furthermore, it is not the first time ever that a race of the highest automotive competition is held in Japan at this time of year: on 17 April 1994 the first edition of the Pacific Grand Prix was held on the Aida circuit, repeated the year next, no longer in April but in October. The early spring will also bring lower temperatures than the teams are used to for this match as the seasonal average fluctuates between 8°C and 13°C.
The Suzuka event is one of the classics of the season. 5,807 kilometers long, the track owned by Honda is one of the drivers' favorites because it tests their talent by virtue of a complete layout and is characterized by a characteristic figure-eight shape, unique in the history of Formula 1.
In addition to representing an extraordinary challenge for cars and drivers, the track puts the tires to the test, both in terms of wear – the asphalt has high levels of roughness and abrasiveness – and in terms of forces and loads to which they are subjected, considering the different types of curves that compose it. As per tradition, for this track Pirelli has selected the hardest trio of compounds among those available, composed of C1 as Hard, C2 as Medium and C3 as Soft. This is, among other things, the same selection used in Bahrain for the first race of the season.
Usually the race takes place over two stops, considering the stress to which the tires are subjected and their thermal degradation: moreover, any lower temperatures compared to the past could be a mitigating factor and thus create the conditions, especially for cars and drivers who were particularly kind in managing the tyres, trying to get to the finish line, stopping only once for the obligatory change of compound. The downside is the greater difficulty one might encounter in bringing the tires to the right operating temperature, especially after restarting from the pits: this would also decrease the effectiveness of the undercut, usually very useful on this track, even at the light of the fact that the preferred compounds for the race are traditionally Hard and Medium.
The date is not the only novelty that characterizes this year's Japanese trip. In fact, after the Grand Prix there will be an appendix of two days of testing – Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 April – which Pirelli will carry out, with the collaboration of Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber and Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team, to develop constructions and compounds for next season.
Detail of Pirelli tires and wheels on a McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
There have been 37 editions of the Japanese Grand Prix held so far, of which 33 in Suzuka: the remaining four were hosted on the Fuji track, owned by Toyota. The most successful driver is still Michael Schumacher with six successes: the German is also first in the ranking of pole positions (8) and podium finishes (9). As for the teams, McLaren has the most victories (9) while Ferrari leads the number of pole positions (10).
The Suzuka circuit has 18 corners, some of which – such as Spoon, 130R and the uphill combination between 2 and 7 – are among the best-known on the world championship calendar. Less so are the two Degners, named after Ernest Degner, a German motorcycle racer of the 1950s and 1960s, whose story really deserves to be told.
Born in Gleiwitz (Upper Silesia, today in Polish territory) in 1931 and raised in East Germany, Degner was one of the most prominent sportsmen in the eastern part. In fact, he raced with the MZ, two-stroke motorcycles designed by Walter Kaaden, a brilliant engineer who, during the Second World War, had worked for the Nazis in Peenemunde, the secret weapons factory wanted by Adolf Hitler. Thanks to Kaaden's creativity, the MZs were able to compete and beat not only the consolidated European competition but also that of the emerging manufacturers, who were beginning to appear in the most important competitions in the West.
In 1960, for example, Suzuki had entered the first racing bike but it was dramatically slow, finishing the 1960 Isle of Man TT 125 a full 15 minutes behind the winner. It was clear that the Japanese urgently needed know-how, but where to find it? The answer came in the form of a chance meeting that took place the following year between Degner and the Japanese company, in which president Shunzo Suzuki took part. During the conversation, the German pilot said that he was tired of his dull life in East Germany, as the rest of the world was starting to emerge from post-war austerity: the surveillance of the agents of the Stasi, the secret police, weighed on him , who followed him to every race (they were so worried he might escape that the family wasn't allowed to go to races, so he would always have a reason to come home). Of course, he also hated the fact that many of his less talented fellow pilots were paid a fortune compared to him, who had to settle for a salary equal to virtually any other MZ worker. An agreement was thus reached: Degner would run away, help Suzuki develop the bikes and then race for the Japanese. But he wouldn't have left the GDR without his family and, with the Berlin Wall having just been erected, getting them out would have been almost impossible. Thus, on the occasion of the 1961 Swedish Grand Prix which took place in Kristianstad, Degner organized with the help of a friend of his from West Germany – who made frequent business trips to East Berlin – the escape of his wife and children , having them hide in a secret compartment in the trunk of a Lincoln Mercury. Degner's plan relied on the Stasi spending more time watching him on the track abroad than his family at home: he was right. Degner, who had to retire during the race due to engine failure, fled to West Germany to reunite with his family before moving to Hamamatsu, where the Suzuki headquarters were located. One of MZ's first reactions was to immediately cancel the program of races abroad, in case other drivers or technicians had the idea of following Degner's example…
Degner raced in the 1962 season with a Suzuki: he constantly feared being killed by the Stasi but in the end he still managed to win the first world title in the 50 cc class. From the following year, however, the fairy tale began to turn into a nightmare. In the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka he fell from the motorbike at the place now known as Degner Curves and, when the fuel tank exploded, he suffered severe burns requiring over 50 skin grafts. Other accidents punctuated his return to racing until his definitive retirement in 1966. Living with suffering caused him to slip into morphine addiction: when death suddenly overtook him in 1983, at the time he was living in Tenerife (Spain), in many they thought he had been the victim of an overdose but, at the same time, imaginative theories also flourished that he was the victim of belated revenge by the Stasi. Turns 8 and 9 of the Suzuka track were named in his memory and as thanks for the contribution he made to the history of Japanese motorcycling.
MINIMUM PRESSURES AT THE START (slick)
25.0 psi (front)
23.0 psi (rear)
EOS CAMBER LIMITED
-2.75° (front)
-1.50# (rear)
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