Ollie from the UK shares his expertise and pictures from his second reside race, the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka
We’d been to at least one race weekend earlier than (the 2023 Italian Grand Prix) and that simply left us wanting extra! Suzuka at all times had a particular pull for me as I spent a yr residing in Japan, however the autumn slot wasn’t excellent as a result of seemingly inevitable rain. The calendar modifications eliminated that impediment although, and a milestone birthday in mid-March appeared the perfect alternative to tick the Japanese Grand Prix off the checklist.
Suzuka Tickets
As documented elsewhere, ticket costs are actually affordable. With the Thursday pit stroll an possibility, we did take into consideration simply getting grandstand tickets however determined to push the boat out a bit with an F1 Experiences package deal. The panoramic views offered B2 for me, and F1 Experiences provided a Hero package deal in that stand. In addition to the weekend tickets, we received a pit lane stroll, guided monitor tour, plus photograph with the drivers’ and constructors’ championship trophies (all on Thursday afternoon), in addition to entry to the Inside F1 occasion within the Champions Membership on Friday night time with visitor audio system and free foods and drinks. Ticket buy was simple and communications from F1 Experiences have been actually good. The tickets and credentials arrived two or three weeks earlier than the race, they usually additionally despatched numerous suggestions and reminders by electronic mail within the run-up to the weekend.
Journey to Japan & Staying in Nagoya
The Grand Prix was the primary cause for the journey, however we constructed different sightseeing time round it. We flew into Tokyo the weekend earlier than the race (simply in time for the unseasonable chilly snap), however going to the monitor on Thursday meant we couldn’t take a look at the Tokyo Fan Competition, which began on Wednesday. We additionally made time to see Nagoya and Osaka after the race weekend.
We based mostly ourselves in Nagoya for the race, and getting there from Tokyo is sweet and straightforward. We pre-booked Shinkansen tickets utilizing the net Good-Ex service. Japanese trains are much more dependable, frequent and fairly priced than UK trains, nevertheless, so you may simply simply purchase on the station on the day. In Nagoya, we saved a bit of cash on lodging by staying a brief subway experience away from the primary practice station. We stayed close to Fushimi station (1 cease from Nagoya), however Sakae was one cease additional out and had extra outlets and eating places. I might advise reserving as early as you’ll be able to. There are many resorts to swimsuit all budgets however understandably the very best ones get booked up quick. Just about all the resorts we checked out provided free cancellation proper up till a day or two earlier than arrival, so there’s typically nothing to lose.
Attending to Suzuka Circuit
After intensive analysis into the journey choices, we went for the 5-day Kintetsu rail go for race weekend. It was good worth at 4,900 JPY ($33.60 USD), particularly because it coated attending to the circuit on Thursday in addition to our onward journey to Osaka on Monday after the race. We took the Nagoya-Shiroko route day by day, however didn’t go along with the restricted categorical (assured seats have been interesting, however journey time wasn’t a lot faster than the usual categorical, and we preferred the additional flexibility). Journey to the circuit truly received simpler as the times went on…seats on the practice have been more durable to return by on Thursday and Friday with folks going to work, then the very fact Purple Bull and Ferrari have been on the fan stage early on Saturday made these trains fairly busy. Sunday wasn’t so dangerous, however we went early relative to the motion on the monitor. We received to Shiroko about 9am on Thursday and 8am or so the remainder of the weekend.
We used the shuttle bus each morning to get to the monitor from Shiroko station. When planning I couldn’t see something about bus service on Thursday, however per week or so beforehand the Suzuka web site revealed the primary and final shuttle occasions for every day, together with Thursday. The occasions have been additionally posted on the bus stops, in addition to introduced on the monitor. The Thursday service (and to a lesser extent Friday) was very a lot scaled again in comparison with the remainder of the weekend. We needed to wait about 45 minutes to get on a bus on Thursday, then the experience itself took over 30 minutes. Friday was a bit higher with a shorter wait and solely a 20 min journey, however Saturday and Sunday have been each easy and concerned minimal waits. On Thursday you needed to pay earlier than boarding, the opposite days we paid after arriving on the circuit.
Leaving the circuit was a little bit of a unique story. Our F1 experiences actions lasted all afternoon on Thursday, so getting a bus again wasn’t a difficulty. The final shuttle on Friday was at 6pm, which was an odd time provided that drivers have been showing on the fan stage at 6.30pm! We did hear some horror tales concerning the queues leaving the circuit after FP2 although, so we have been fairly glad to have the Inside F1 occasion on Friday night time, which completed about 8pm. Given the bus state of affairs we have been anticipating strolling to Hiratacho station (additionally on the Kintetsu line) or Shiroko however ultimately, F1 Experiences organized coaches to take visitors again to Shiroko, which was warmly welcomed, particularly given how chilly it was on Friday night time!
We didn’t trouble with the shuttle on Saturday or Sunday and simply walked to Shiroko, which took us about 45-50 minutes at a fast strolling tempo so in all probability rather a lot faster than the bus. The strolling route took us previous Suzuka Circuit Ino station, and the queues there have been huge on each Saturday and Sunday, however we couldn’t inform how shortly they moved.
Though the lengthy queues for shuttle buses in earlier years have been fairly nicely documented, I hadn’t actually seen something about queues at Shiroko station itself. Our earlier F1 journey to Monza concerned an enormous scrum on the station, so we puzzled if it might be the identical right here. In the long run the gap between station and circuit dispersed sufficient that there have been no queues to get within the station and we at all times received on the primary practice. We’d left straight after quali on Saturday and received seats, however even after staying longer for the monitor stroll on Sunday, the practice was packed. A silver lining was that the entire Sky F1 staff have been additionally sharing our crammed carriage again to Nagoya (besides Ted, who was on the platform however had the sense to e book himself a restricted categorical ticket), so even TV crews needed to undergo!
In case you purchase the Kintetsu go on-line, you get a QR code to scan on the ticket limitations. Sadly, just a few gates have this performance – often just one, and it operates each out and in. This induced a little bit of a bottleneck at Shiroko particularly, and was a little bit of a ache should you queued for a standard gate solely to understand that you just couldn’t use it. Exiting Shiroko, the QR-enabled gate was the rightmost one so goal proper as you attempt to go away.
When you have an iPhone, you’ll be able to add a Japanese journey card (Suica, Pasmo, Icoca and many others.) immediately within the Pockets app. It makes practice journey a lot easier as you don’t want to fret about shopping for tickets (though watch out to not contact the cardboard reader should you’re attempting to scan a QR code), plus you should utilize it to pay for the circuit shuttle as nicely at kiosks and comfort shops if you need. Sadly non-Japanese Android telephones don’t have that performance, however you’ll be able to nonetheless get bodily playing cards at stations.
Meals & Drink at Suzuka
The Japanese Grand Prix Journey Information on f1destinations.com covers issues very well and I used to be actually grateful for all the information planning each of our F1 journeys. The primary factor we observed was that each retailer we noticed for the 2025 weekend took playing cards, with just one exception the place the machine broke down briefly. It’s nonetheless a good suggestion to have money as a backup (plus it’s sooner to pay money), nevertheless it looks as if it’s not as important because it as soon as was. There have been no bag checks in any way till Sunday, and even then all they did was ask you to open your bag so they may peer in.
It was nice to not really feel ripped off for foods and drinks – delicate drinks have been 200 JPY ($1.36 USD) for a can or JPY 500 ($3.40 USD) for a 32oz whopper of a cup at specialist stalls (together with Japan-exclusive Fanta Melon, which is unbelievable). Beer was 550 JPY ($3.75 USD) for a can (350 JPY for 0%) or 800 JPY ($5.45 USD) for draught on the Heineken bar beneath the primary grandstand. You would additionally pay 1000 JPY ($6.80 USD) for a draught beer in a commemorative steel cup – there was no plastic on the circuit in any way, in contrast to the remainder of Japan.
Meals choices averaged out at about 1000 JPY ($6.80 USD) for a most important meal. Lunchtime queues have been fairly lengthy, however a high tip for anybody in B2 grandstand is that there’s a meals kiosk that may solely be accessed by ticket holders in that stand, which helped scale back peak time queues.
Merchandise
Suzuka was rather a lot lighter on merchandise than we anticipated. The primary fan zone had outlets for Ferrari, Purple Bull/RB, McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin, however no different groups had their very own so it was a case of attempting the F1 store within the fan zone or trying across the numerous small kiosks across the circuit. In order for you any particular Japanese GP stuff then you definitely’re greatest off shopping for on Thursday or Friday earlier than it sells out. Costs are as excessive as you’d count on, however Suzuka has a whole lot of its personal merchandise outlets promoting respectable stuff at extra wise costs.
Fan Zones at Suzuka
The primary fan zone had the motive force stage and merchandise retailers, in addition to some sim racing. There was additionally a West Fan Zone within the GA space, which had the pit cease problem and racing sims in addition to the same old foods and drinks. The fan stage at Suzuka is a uniquely Japanese expertise. Nearly everybody sits down and it’s a very well mannered affair. You could not get to see everybody – some drivers appeared on Friday after the final shuttle bus, and others have been included within the Saturday night time occasion in entrance of the grandstand. Aside from the drivers talking, every thing else throughout the appearances was carried out within the Japanese language solely.
Amex Advantages
Having an American Categorical card had a number of advantages. In case you used it to pay for merch, there was a free present whereas shares lasted, plus additionally they gave out free radios to cardholders. You would tune them to 86.0 FM to get the English commentary, apparently it was solely accessible in sure areas however the sign in B2 was excellent. There was additionally an Amex popup within the fan zone with actions and freebies, with the spotlight being the prospect to file your individual driver-style intro that you may obtain and preserve. T-poses aplenty!
Suzuka Circuit Motopia (Theme Park)
A weekend ticket will get you full entry to the theme park rides from Thursday to Sunday. The queue for the ferris wheel on Thursday was truly fairly lengthy (about 30 minutes), however that may have been as a result of we went on it simply after the general public pit stroll had completed. We went up once more on Friday morning whereas the Porsche Carrera Cup apply session was on monitor and barely waited in any respect. The rides did get fairly busy all through the weekend, however Sunday morning wasn’t too dangerous and the experience we went on had the bonus of a coated queue to maintain us out of the rain.
Public Pit Lane Stroll, Free Friday & Publish-Race Monitor Stroll
The general public pit lane stroll on Thursday was actually busy, with huge crowds across the Purple Bull storage particularly. You would see the automobiles being arrange, however not much more. It was good to get on the primary straight although.
With most seats being unreserved on Friday, we took within the apply classes from everywhere in the monitor (when the grass wasn’t on fireplace in fact). It was considerably unlucky that probably essentially the most pleasure proper in entrance of our reserved seats all weekend was Jack Doohan’s crash, at a time after we weren’t there! The view from B2 is nearly as good because it appears on-line, we might see from the entrance row of the grid all through the esses.
Given how busy the Thursday pit stroll had been (plus the very fact we did one other one with F1 Experiences), we left straight after quali on Saturday slightly than staying for the night time pit stroll and Eve Competition. We stayed for the post-race monitor stroll on Sunday, which opened up after the shows. Solely the East Course was open – you entered by means of the gate by grandstand A close to Flip 1, then might stroll spherical so far as the beginning of Dunlop earlier than having to chop throughout in the direction of the ultimate nook. Fortunately although, the primary straight was open, regardless of the data on-line saying that it might solely be for V1/V2 grandstand ticket holders.
F1 Experiences
The majority of the motion with F1 Experiences’ fan packages occurs on Thursday afternoon. We have been shocked on the sheer variety of folks assembling on the assembly level for the pit lane/monitor tour motion, and have been a bit involved it might be a repeat of the morning crowds. Nevertheless, F1 Experiences employees organised the plenty into three strains, with every beginning on a unique exercise. Our group began with the trophy photograph, then moved on to the monitor tour. The truck that took us across the monitor wasn’t overfull in any respect, permitting you to maneuver round and get any views or footage you wished, and it in all probability went sooner than anticipated – somebody misplaced their hat (though it was returned). We had skilled racing driver guides to present extra element and context, though I believe many individuals ended up getting distracted as a consequence of it being excellent timing for driver recognizing…many drivers had began their monitor walks/runs/cycles and as we went spherical we went previous Isack Hadjar, Ayumu Iwasa, Kimi Antonelli (with Bono) and George Russell, in addition to seeing the Haas drivers doing a TV piece at the beginning line.
There was a whole lot of exercise within the pit lane after we received there, and ultimately the one drivers we didn’t see throughout the afternoon have been the Sauber guys, plus Max and Lewis. You would see into the garages (though once more Purple Bull was very talked-about) and any worries of it being too crowded have been unfounded. We additionally had a front-row view of pit cease apply for Mercedes and Williams. I believe there’s a level of luck of the draw as to timing and what you see, nevertheless it labored out completely for us and was nicely value doing.
Friday night time was Inside F1, which was billed as having appearances from some F1 personnel. After a freezing chilly begin ready exterior after the solar went down, it was good to get inside the nice and cozy Champions Membership! The night was nice, lasting about 90 minutes with loads of complimentary drinks and small plates of tasty meals being provided. We weren’t certain who to count on, however the visitors have been Ayao Komatsu, Simon Lazenby, Bernd Maylander and Otmar Szafnauer. We loved listening to from all of them, however Bernd Maylander particularly was very entertaining. View F1 Experiences packages for the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix right here.
Ultimate Ideas
Would I do it once more? Positively. It’s a disgrace the race itself was a little bit of a non-event, however every thing else was nice. The ambiance is perhaps extra subdued than different races, however that’s a part of the appeal. I can communicate Japanese and having somebody in your social gathering who is aware of at the very least a few of the language is a bonus, however different folks we noticed that don’t communicate Japanese appeared to get on OK. The brand new slot is ideal for visiting Japan as nicely, because the race takes place throughout prime cherry blossom season.
Be taught Extra: 2026 Japanese Grand Prix Journey Information
