5 Things You Might Not Have Known About The Japanese Grand Prix

Image source: Lotus F1 Team

Formula 1 moves swiftly from Korea to Japan and the iconic Suzuka circuit for round 15 of the 2013 season. The back-to-back races mean that there is little time to mull over the events from the Korea International Circuit as focus turns to this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

One of the most challenging circuits the sport has ever raced on, the 3.608 mile track has hosted some of F1's most memorable races. Here are five things you may not have known about the Japanese Grand Prix.

1. It's a terrifically busy lap

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The Suzuka Circuit may only have 18 corners, but 60 per cent of the lap is spent turning left or right. This is due to the large amount of medium and high-speed bends, particularly the long 'Spoon Curve' which is a particularly tricky corner to master.

What's more, 10 of the 18 bends are taken between 105 and 168mph. A handful of corners are taken in sixth of seventh gear too, including the formidable 130R, which is pretty damn fast.

2. One of the few old school circuits left

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Unlike modern Formula 1 circuits, the Suzuka circuit is surrounded by gravel traps which leaves no margin for error. Make a mistake and your session or race is well and truly over, there is no getting out of that kitty litter.

It has a certain old-school charm about it too with the large elevation changes, sweeping corners and high speed bends which break the current track conventions of long straights and big stops.

3. When you crash, you crash big

With such high speeds, crashing at the Suzuka circuit is certainly a spectacular occurrence. In fact, sometimes the barriers can't even cope. Allan McNish crashed at the challenging flat-out 130R corner during qualifying for the 2002 round. His Toyota hit the wall with such force that it actually went through the barrier.

More recently, Jaime Alguersuari and Lucas di Grassi have suffered big crashes at 130R with the latter's collision with the barrier coming rather embarrassingly on his lap to the grid. Even super-cool Kimi Raikkonen has felt the wrath of the Suzuka barriers. He crashed heavily there during the 2001 Japanese Grand Prix after contact with Jean Alesi.

4. It's hosted classic F1 moments

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Two of F1's most iconic moments have taken place at the Suzuka track, both involving Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Remember them? No? Where have you been? On lap 46 of 1989's Japanese Formula 1 round Senna and Prost collided at the lap-closing chicane. Senna had lost the lead on the first lap and when he made his move, his rival didn't back down. The Frenchman retired from the race due to crash damage but Senna continued on to win the race in titanic style. However he was eventually disqualified, giving the 1989 title to Prost.

The 1990 round saw Senna and Prost resume their notorious rivalry but this time they weren't team-mates. For the second year in a row Senna lost the lead to Prost, now driving for Ferrari, into turn one. However, his attempt to reclaim the lead led to a collision into the first corner which eliminated both drivers. The crash gifted Senna the second of his three world titles.

5. Changeable conditions cause chaos

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Suzuka is known for its changeable conditions and rain can often cause chaos. Damon Hill won the 1994 round in torrential conditions but a mid-race stoppage for a number of early crashes meant that victory was decided on aggregate time. The Brit beat renowned wet-weather specialist Michael Schumacher by three seconds.

10 years later and rain would once again cause mayhem, this time on Saturday. A warning was put out during Friday practice for the 2004 Japanese Grand Prix stating that super typhoon Ma-on was closing in on the track. Everyone stayed away from the track on Saturday due to the appalling conditions and qualifying was postponed to Sunday morning.