The Japanese Grand Prix will move from its regular late-season slot to a new date in spring in the future, a local politician has claimed.
Keiji Furuya, a member of Japan’s house of representatives, claimed on social media next year’s Japanese Grand Prix will take place the week after Formula E’s new round in Tokyo.The FIA announced yesterday the inaugural Tokyo EPrix will take place on March 30th, indicating the Japanese Grand Prix will be held on April 7th. A spokesperson for F1 declined to comment on the claimed date change for the race, which will be held in September this year.
Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Corniche Circuit is expected to take over from Bahrain as the opening round on the 2024 F1 calendar. The promoters of the two Middle Eastern races wish to hold their events outside of the Ramadan religious period, which occurs between March 10th and April 9th next year.
F1 is also working to rearrange races in order to reduce the amount of travel to ease the strain on teams and reduce emissions, in line with its target of becoming a net zero emitter of carbon by 2030. Moving the Japanese round from the latter half of the year may allow it to be twinned with other flyaway races at the beginning of the season, such as the Australian Grand Prix.
Next year’s Japanese GP is the last on the Suzuka circuit’s current contract. However the Mobilityland company which runs Suzuka is owned by Honda, which is likely to continue supporting the race while it participates in the championship. Honda resumed its branding of Red Bull’s power units after its departure at the end of 2021, and will supply its motors to Aston Martin from 2026.
The Suzuka area sees average temperatures of 10-19C in April, with average monthly rainfall of 142mm. This year’s race will take place in September, which on average is wetter, seeing 213mm of rain, but also warmer, with temperatures of 21-28C.
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asd
21st June 2023, 17:53
“10-19C in April”
Woah, 10C is very cold. And Suzuka in April feels so wrong too. The track is so great it deserves to hold a GP at the finish or near the finish of the season.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
21st June 2023, 23:02
I’ve been following Super Formula this year and they had 2 races in April at Fuji and Suzuka and they were great. I think it would be fine personally as long as we get a Japanese GP. I also believe Super Formula would like to host a race at the same weekend and venue as F1 to get more exposure so this might be another reason for the proposed April slot.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st June 2023, 19:37
Very likely, yes, & from what I’ve read today, next season’s early phase for the first six events would go as follows:
Bahrain GP March 2 (Saturday)
Saudi Arabian GP March 9 (Saturday) – To avoid Ramadan beginning the following day & Bahrain GP also on Saturday presumably to keep the interval at roughly 7 days rather than 6.
Australian GP March 24
Japanese GP April 7
Chinese GP April 21
Miami GP May 5
Source: Joe Saward’s most recent Green Notebook release
I wish Japan would be paired with Australia, though, not only so that the Australian GP wouldn’t again be a standalone event & also to give more flexibility to entirely avoid triple-headers that don’t really have a place anymore & are avoidable even with 24 GPs+standard length summer break.
For example:
Bahrain GP 2.3
Saudi Arabian GP 9.3
Australian GP 24.3
Japanese GP 31.3
Chinese GP 14.4
Miami GP 28.4
Spanish GP/Emilia-Romagna GP 12.5
Monaco GP 26.5
Emilia-Romagna GP/Spanish GP 2.6
Canadian GP 16.6
Austrian GP/Belgian GP 30.6
British GP 7.7
Hungarian GP/Austrian GP 21.7
Belgian GP/Hungarian GP 28.7
Dutch GP 25.8
Italian GP 1.9
Singapore GP/Azerbaijan GP 15.9
Azerbaijan GP/Singapore GP 22.9
Qatar GP 6.10
US GP 20.10
Mexico City GP 27.10
Sao Paulo GP 10.11
LV GP 16.11
Abu Dhabi GP 1.12
Admittedly, the Sao Paulo GP-LV GP interval would be less than 7 in this race calendar formation.
However, I haven’t really thought about that as a huge issue despite the thing with the early Middle East double.
Additionally, while pairing Japan with Australia would be better, holding the Japanese GP & FE’s Japan round on the same weekend would understandably be unideal.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st June 2023, 19:39
With the long-ish post, I forgot to add that April is decently warm as a whole, so not the worst month for racing in Japan, not to mention, the domestic Super Formula & GT series already do so.
Simon
21st June 2023, 20:24
https://t.ly/9Wx5
some racing fan
22nd June 2023, 0:18
Oh please, please let this be the case. Japan in spring time is better than the autumn
some racing fan
22nd June 2023, 0:30
Also, if they knew what was good for them, they would schedule the races like this:
1. Miami (25 February)
2. Saudi (10 March)
3. Australia (24 March)
4. Singapore (31 March)
5. Bahrain (14 April)
6. China (21 April)
7. Japan (28 April)
8. Vegas (12 May)
9. Monaco (26 May)
10. Imola (9 June)
11. Canada (23 June)
12. Austria (7 July)
13. Britain (14 July)
14. Hungary (28 July)
15. Holland (4 August)
16. Belgium (1 September)
17. Italy (8 September)
18. Azerbaijan (22 September)
19. Spain (29 September)
20. Brazil (13 October)
21. USA (27 October)
22. Mexico (3 November)
23. Qatar (17 November)
24. Abu Dhabi (24 November)
Harvey
22nd June 2023, 3:31
Here’s my version:
Bahrain 3 March
Saudi Arabia 9 March*
Australia 24 March
Japan 7 April
China 14 April
Imola 28 April
Netherlands 5 May
Spain 12 May
Monaco 26 May
Canada 9 June
Miami 16 June
Austria 30 June
Britain 7 July
Hungary 21 July
Azerbaijan 28 July
Belgium 1 September
Italy 8 September
Singapore 22 September
Japan 29 September
Qatar 6 October
USA 20 October
Mexico 27 October
Brazil 3 November
Las Vegas 16 November*
Abu Dhabi 24 November