Japanese Grand Prix

The **Japanese Grand Prix** is a race the FIA Formula One World Championship calendar. Usually, this race is one of the last races of the season.

The Japanese Grand Prix has been hosted by both the Fuji Speedway and the Suzuka Circuit. Fuji Speedway is owned by Toyota and Suzuka Circuit is owned by their rival Honda. In July 2009, Toyota announced it would not host the race at Fuji Speedway in 2010 and beyond due to a downturn in the global economy.

### Inaugural races

The first Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, in , was held at the Fuji Speedway, west of Yokohama. The race was to become famous for the battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda for the championship. The race was held during monsoon rain conditions. Lauda had survived a near-fatal crash at the German Grand Prix earlier in the season. He withdrew from the Japanese Grand Prix fearing for his safety. Hunt finished third, and ended up winning championship by a margin of one point.

Hunt returned to win the second Japanese Grand Prix. There was a collision between Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson in the race. Villeneuve's Ferrari flew off the track and killed two spectators. The Japanese Grand Prix did not return to Formula One for another decade.

### Return to Japan at Suzuka

Formula One returned to Japan in 1987. This time, it was hosted by the Suzuka Circuit, south west of Nagoya. The circuit was set inside a amusement park, and owned by Honda. Honda used the circuit as a test track. The Suzuka circuit was the first figure-eight race track in F1. One section of the track passes over the other on a bridge.

### Alternating between Suzuka and Fuji

The FIA announced on 24 March 24 2006 that future races will again be held at Fuji Speedway. Fuji had been redesigned by Hermann Tilke.

Formula One announced On 8 September 2007, that Fuji will alternate hosting the Japanese Grand Prix with Suzuka. This will start in 2009.

### Fuji Speedway withdraws

In July 2009, Toyota cited a global economic slump as the reason that the Japanese Grand Prix would not return to Fuji Speedway in 2010 and beyond. The speedway argued, according to the Associated Press, that "continuing to host F1 races could threaten the survival of the company." As a result, the 2010 Grand Prix will be held at Suzuka.

## Sponsors

Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix **1987-2009**

### Repeat winners (drivers)

_Drivers **in bold** are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season._

_A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship._
|Wins|Driver|Years won|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Michael Schumacher|1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004||
|**Lewis Hamilton**|2007, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018||
|Sebastian Vettel|2009, 2010, 2012, 2013||
|**Max Verstappen**|2022, 2023, 2024, 2025||
|Motoharu Kurosawa|<span style="background-color:#ffcccc">1969, 1973</span>||
|Gerhard Berger|1987, 1991||
|Ayrton Senna|1988, 1993||
|Damon Hill|1994, 1996||
|Mika Häkkinen|1998, 1999||
|Fernando Alonso|2006, 2008||

### Repeat winners (constructors)

_Teams **in bold** are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season._

_A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship._

|Wins|Constructor|Years won|
| --- | --- | --- |
|**McLaren**|1977, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2011||
|**Red Bull**|2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025||
|**Ferrari**|1987, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004||
|**Mercedes**|2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019||
|Benetton|1989, 1990, 1995||
|**Williams**|1992, 1994, 1996||
|Lotus|<span style="background-color:#ffcccc">1963,</span> 1976||
|Porsche|<span style="background-color:#ffcccc">1964, 1967</span>||
|Nissan|<span style="background-color:#ffcccc">1968, 1969</span>||
|**Renault**|2006, 2008||

### Repeat winners (engine manufacturers)

_Manufacturers **in bold** are competing in the Formula One championship in the current season._

_A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship._

|Wins|Manufacturer|Years won|
| --- | --- | --- |
|**Mercedes**|1998, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019||
|**Renault**|1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013||
|**Ferrari**|1987, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004||
|Ford **|<span style="background-color:#ffcccc">1963, 1972</span>, 1976, 1977, 1989, 1990, 1993||
|**Honda RBPT**|2023, 2024, 2025||
|**Honda**|1988, 1991||
 Between 1998-2005 built by Ilmor

Built by Cosworth

### Formula One era – by year

|Year|Driver|Constructor|Location|Report|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Mario Andretti|Lotus-Ford|rowspan="2"|Fuji|Report|
|James Hunt|McLaren-Ford|Report|||
|align=center colspan=4|_Not held_||||
|Gerhard Berger|Ferrari|rowspan="20"|Suzuka|Report|
|Ayrton Senna|McLaren-Honda|Report|||
|Alessandro Nannini|Benetton-Ford|Report|||
|Nelson Piquet|Benetton-Ford|Report|||
|Gerhard Berger|McLaren-Honda|Report|||
|Riccardo Patrese|Williams-Renault|Report|||
|Ayrton Senna|McLaren-Ford|Report|||
|Damon Hill|Williams-Renault|Report|||
|Michael Schumacher|Benetton-Renault|Report|||
|Damon Hill|Williams-Renault|Report|||
|Michael Schumacher|Ferrari|Report|||
|Mika Häkkinen|McLaren-Mercedes|Report|||
|Mika Häkkinen|McLaren-Mercedes|Report|||
|Michael Schumacher|Ferrari|Report|||
|Michael Schumacher|Ferrari|Report|||
|Michael Schumacher|Ferrari|Report|||
|Rubens Barrichello|Ferrari|Report|||
|Michael Schumacher|Ferrari|Report|||
|Kimi Räikkönen|McLaren-Mercedes|Report|||
|Fernando Alonso|Renault|Report|||
|Lewis Hamilton|McLaren-Mercedes|rowspan="2"|Fuji|Report|
|Fernando Alonso|Renault|Report|||
|Sebastian Vettel|Red Bull-Renault|rowspan="11"|Suzuka|Report|
|Sebastian Vettel|Red Bull-Renault|Report|||
|Jenson Button|McLaren-Mercedes|Report|||
|Sebastian Vettel|Red Bull-Renault|Report|||
|Sebastian Vettel|Red Bull-Renault|Report|||
|Lewis Hamilton|Mercedes|Report|||
|Lewis Hamilton|Mercedes|Report|||
|Nico Rosberg|Mercedes|Report|||
|Lewis Hamilton|Mercedes|Report|||
|Lewis Hamilton|Mercedes|Report|||
|Valtteri Bottas|Mercedes|Report|||
|colspan="6" align="center"|_Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic_||||
|Max Verstappen|Red Bull-RBPT|rowspan="4"|Suzuka|Report|
|Max Verstappen|Red Bull-Honda RBPT|Report|||
|Max Verstappen|Red Bull-Honda RBPT|Report|||
|Max Verstappen|Red Bull-Honda RBPT|Report|||

### Pre-Formula One era – by year

|Year|Driver|Car|Location|Category|Report|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Peter Warr|Lotus 23-Ford|rowspan="2"|Suzuka|Sports Cars|Report|
|Michael Knight|Brabham BT9|Formula Junior|Report|||
|align=center colspan=5|_Not held_|||||
|Yoshikazu Sunako|Prince R380|rowspan="4"|Fuji||Report|
|Tetsu Ikuzawa|Porsche 906||Report|||
|Moto Kitano|Nissan R381-Chevrolet||Report|||
|Motoharu Kurosawa|Nissan R382||Report|||
|align=center colspan=5|_Not held_|||||
|Kuniomi Nagamatsu|Mitsubishi Colt F2000|rowspan="3"|Fuji||Report|
|John Surtees|Surtees TS10-Ford BDG|Formula Libre Formula Two Formula 2000|Report|||
|Motoharu Kurosawa|March||Report|||
|align=center colspan=5|_Not held_|||||
|Masahiro Hasemi|March|Fuji||Report||

### United Kingdom

|Year|Network|Lap-by-lap|Colour commentator(s)||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan=2||Sky Sports F1|David Croft|Martin Brundle|||
|Channel 4|Ben Edwards|David Coulthard|||||
|rowspan=2||Sky Sports F1|David Croft|Martin Brundle|||
|BBC One|Ben Edwards|David Coulthard|||||
|rowspan=2||Sky Sports F1|David Croft|Martin Brundle|||
|BBC One|Ben Edwards|David Coulthard|||||
|rowspan=2||Sky Sports F1|David Croft|Martin Brundle|||
|BBC One|Ben Edwards|David Coulthard|||||
|rowspan=2||Sky Sports F1|David Croft|Martin Brundle|||
|rowspan=4|BBC One|Ben Edwards|rowspan=2|David Coulthard|||
||Martin Brundle||||||
||rowspan=2|Jonathan Legard|rowspan=8|Martin Brundle|||
||rowspan=6|ITV|rowspan=6|James Allen|||
|rowspan=2||F1 Digital+|Ben Edwards|John Watson|||
|rowspan=6|ITV|rowspan=2|James Allen|rowspan=6|Martin Brundle||
||rowspan=5|Murray Walker|||||
|rowspan=2||BBC Two|Jonathan Palmer||||
|Eurosport|Ben Edwards|John Watson|||||
|rowspan=2||BBC Two|Murray Walker|Jonathan Palmer|||
|Eurosport|Ben Edwards|John Watson|||||
|rowspan=2||BBC Two|Murray Walker|Jonathan Palmer|||
|Eurosport|Allard Kalff|John Watson|||||
|rowspan=2||BBC One|Murray Walker|James Hunt|||
|Eurosport|Allard Kalff|John Watson|||||
|rowspan=2||BBC One|Murray Walker|James Hunt|||
|Eurosport|Allard Kalff|John Watson|||||
|rowspan=2||BBC Two|Murray Walker|James Hunt|||
|Eurosport|Richard Nicholls|John Watson|||||
|rowspan=2||BBC Two|Murray Walker|James Hunt|||
|Eurosport|Richard Nicholls|John Watson|||||
||rowspan=3|BBC Two|rowspan=3|Murray Walker|rowspan=3|James Hunt|
||ITV|Andrew Marriott|||||
|rowspan=2||BBC One|Murray Walker|Barrie Gill|||
|ITV|Andrew Marriott||||||

## Other websites

- Japanese Grand Prix (Unofficial)