Track name: Suzuka
Times the race has been held here: 28
First GP: 1987, won by Gerhard Berger
Total number of race laps: 53
Complete race distance: 307.471 kilometers (191.054 miles)
Pit lane speed limit: 80 kph (50 mph)
Pitlane length: 413m/0.257 miles, estimated time loss 23s
2016 winner: Nico Rosberg, 1:26:43.333
2016 pole position: Nico Rosberg, 1:30.647
2016 fastest lap: Sebastien Vettel, 1:35.118
Most wins (Driver) Michael Schumacher (6)
Most wins(Team): McLaren(9)
Lap record: Kimi Raikkonen –McLaren– 2005 - 1:31.540
Smallest winning margin: 0.344s, in 1991.
Circuit Length: 5.807km/3.608 miles
Direction: Clockwise
Turns: 18
Distance to Turn 1: 350m/0.217 miles
Longest straight: 900m/0.559 miles, on the approach to the Chicane
Fastest corner: 300km/h (186mph), Turn 15
Slowest corner: 72km/h (45mph), Turn 11
Top Speed: 330km/h/205mph, on the approach to the Chicane
Full throttle: 65% with the longest period of full throttle being 16s
DRS Zones: One, on the approach to Turn One
Key Corner: Turn Nine, a third-gear right-hander that passes underneath 130R at the exit to create the unique figure-of-eight shape of Suzuk.
Fuel consumption: 1.89 per lap, which is average
ERS Demands: Medium. An interesting mix of slow, medium and fast corners tests every aspect of car performance, including the ERS.
Brake wear: Low. Only 10 per cent of the lap is spent braking.
Gear changes: 42 per lap/2,226 per race
Safety car likelihood: High. There’s a 60% chance of a Safety Car
Tyre choices: Hard, Medium, Soft
Weather: Warm (29).
Chance of rain: 36%
Grip levels: High.
Run off: Medium. The track is narrow and it has a predominance of gravel traps in its run-off areas.
A lap around Suzuka
Turn one is a very fast corner and you approach it flat out. You turn into the corner and start braking in the middle. You come into the esses, which is turn three, four, five, six and seven. You need to find a good rhythm while at the same time trying to be as quick as possible. It’s important to get a good exit out of turn seven. You come into turn eight – it’s a very special corner because it has a little bit of camber in the middle and you come in with a lot of speed. It’s a corner I like at Suzuka.
Turn nine is a 90-degree corner with a lot of camber again, good to carry the speed through. Then you come to Hairpin, which is pretty slow, focusing a lot on the exit because the next part is quite a long straight. Then you arrive into (turns)13 and 14 carrying a lot of speed in. The exit of (turn) 14 becomes very important as you have a very long straight with a corner in between, turn 15, which is completely flat out, very interesting, very nice to drive through.
Then you arrive into the last chicane, pretty straightforward, pretty slow corner. The car is set up for high-speed corners and when you arrive into the chicane the car is a bit tricky. Going through there using the curbs is important. Then you come to the start finish line and that’s it.”
