Race start, Suzuka, 2022

Suzuka’s F1 race will move to spring date in 2024, Japanese politician claims

2024 F1 season

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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.

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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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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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19 comments on “Suzuka’s F1 race will move to spring date in 2024, Japanese politician claims”

  1. 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.

    1. Profile Photo

      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.

      1. Profile Photo

        Jere (@jerejj)
        22nd June 2023, 5:29

        @lejimster82 I’ve been following Super Formula since 2020 & yes, they regularly race in both Fuji & Suzuka in April for the first two annual events.
        This year’s three April races (the Fuji season opener features two on the same weekend & so does Suzuka’s season finale) were indeed great.
        The part about Super Formula being in F1’s support bill is also a viable & something that could indeed happen from what I read once, although this would effectively force Fuji & Suzuka to swap weekends or some other minor changes on the Super Formula race calendar, not that those would be undoable.

    2. some racing fan
      22nd June 2023, 4:16

      The MotoGP races back in the day when it was at Suzuka were in April.

  2. Profile Photo

    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.

    1. Profile Photo

      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.

      1. Simon
        21st June 2023, 20:24

        https://t.ly/9Wx5

  3. 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

    1. 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)

      1. Profile Photo

        Jere (@jerejj)
        22nd June 2023, 5:23

        Yes, better in the sense that overall precipitation is lower, although cooler on average than earlier autumn phases, but a decent time of year for holding the Japanese GP anyway.
        Your race calendar isn’t bad overall either, especially with Miami GP opening, given February is an even better month for racing there than May or April, not that the latter two are bad per se & zero triple-headers.
        However, unfortunately or not, Singapore GP won’t move, Chinese GP can’t get paired because of China’s challenging custom logistics (also noted in Joe Saward’s Green Notebook, although I already knew before), & Azerbaijan-Spain double would cause logistical inconvenience with the former being a freight event & the latter a truck one.
        I’m also skeptical about Vegas in May.

      2. mst
        24th June 2023, 17:47

        No, nobody wants to see the season open at Miami, what nonsense

  4. 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

    1. Profile Photo

      Jere (@jerejj)
      22nd June 2023, 5:16

      The Atlantic hurricane season makes June unideal for holding the Miami GP, while logistical inconveniences make forming a double-header (or triple) featuring a truck event, i.e., European & freight one (flyaway) impractical, which is why a Hungarian-Azerbaijan GP double is a non-option despite their distance.
      Otherwise, overall a decent okay race calendar except for three triple-headers & the first one of these featuring an illogical order for the second & third legs.

      1. Harvey
        22nd June 2023, 22:53

        I want Imola the last Sunday of April. In different years it’s been on that date.
        Netherlands needs to be in May to coincide with one of their national holidays and also not to dilute with Belgium
        Spain needs to be two weeks before Monaco to not dilute the two. Plus Spain has always been on the second Sunday in May, with Monaco 2wk later

      2. some racing fan
        22nd June 2023, 23:27

        Wrong again. The Atlantic Hurricane season doesn’t start until July, hits it’s peak in September (when most hurricanes impact North America) and ends in November. There are hardly any hurricanes in July and November anyway. Having said that June is an awful time of year for the Miami GP- you might as well consider hosting one of the Gulf races in summer too. Miami in June is way too hot, humid and rainy- the climate difference between Montreal and Miami is dramatically different. The only other North American race you could pair with Montreal is Mexico City, as although it’s the rainy season in summer in most places in Mexico and it’s a bit more humid the temperatures are certainly manageable- Bernie used to pair the Canadian and Mexican GP’s back in the Senna-Prost days.

        1. Harvey
          23rd June 2023, 15:33

          Miami could take place earlier in the day if held in June, say 10am local time (3pm UK/4pm most of Europe) to offset the heat

        2. Profile Photo

          @denn (@denn)
          24th June 2023, 20:52

          actually the Atlantic hurricane season “officially” starts June 1
          https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/2023-atlantic-hurricane-season-outlook

      3. Harvey
        23rd June 2023, 15:35

        I could move the latter end of the calendar this way:
        Qatar 13 October
        USA 27 October
        Mexico 3 November
        Brazil 17 November
        Las Vegas 30 November*
        Abu Dhabi 15 December

  5. Dom
    22nd June 2023, 11:03

    Grands Prix are held on Sundays not Saturdays!
    If Ramadan starts on 10th March and ends on April 9th you cant have a Grand Prix on those weekends, so its very simple, the start of the season should go…
    Bahrain 3rd March (before Ramadan)
    Melbourne 17th March
    China 31st March
    Japan 7th April
    Saudi Arabia 14th April (after Ramadan.
    Imola 28th April

Comments are closed.