After a droop within the 2010s, Suzuka’s attendance figures are on the rise. We have a look again over 50 years of Japanese Grand Prix to analyze the components behind altering attendance numbers on the Japanese Grand Prix.
In 1987, the primary Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka passed off in entrance of a 247,000-strong 4-day crowd of fortunate F1 followers. Fortunate, actually, as a nation-wide lottery passed off to resolve which of the thousands and thousands of followers who utilized for tickets would be capable of attend Suzuka’s first look on the calendar.
Suzuka was not a brand new observe when it joined the System 1 schedule. The Honda-owned observe was, in actual fact, celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary, and celebrated in type with a refurbishment of its pit and paddock advanced bringing it consistent with the FIA’s requirements forward of its first time internet hosting the Japanese Grand Prix.
Simply as Suzuka was not a newly constructed observe, the 1987 Japanese Grand Prix was not F1’s first enterprise into Japan. Fuji Speedway had hosted two races within the earlier decade, showing on the calendar in 1976 and 1977, however the occasion was discontinued because of declining native curiosity and costly journey.
Suzuka is one in all few circuits which has produced day by day attendance figures for its total historical past on the System 1 calendar. Analysing the figures at Suzuka, and looking out again on Fuji’s time as host of the occasion, tells a 50-year story of Japan’s affinity with the head of motorsport.
From Fuji to Suzuka: F1’s First Visits to Japan
The fruits of the fabled 1976 season, immortalised within the film Rush, which noticed James Hunt and Niki Lauda battle for the title, coincided with the primary Japanese Grand Prix to be staged as a part of the World Championship.
The race passed off on October 24 – however an F1 automotive had run on the Fuji observe one week beforehand, on Saturday October 16. That automotive was the McLaren of Hunt, regardless of a gentleman’s settlement between the groups that there can be no testing on the circuit previous to the race weekend. The transfer wound up Ferrari’s workforce supervisor, who petitioned that official follow needs to be prolonged for all the different groups – however his petitioning fell upon deaf ears. Apparently, although, Hunt’s exploratory laps had proven {that a} part of the observe was breaking apart and his sneaky enterprise meant that the problem may very well be fastened in time for the Grand Prix weekend.
Lauda – who had suffered extreme burns in a crash simply months earlier – had heroically stayed in title competition till the ultimate spherical of the yr. He conceded the title when he withdrew from the inaugural Japanese Grand Prix over security issues when heavy rain fell at Fuji Speedway. The rain had brought on the race to be delayed by round two hours from its scheduled begin time.
One yr later, Fuji had misplaced a few of its magic. The environment have been acquainted, the climate abated and the title had already been determined. The weekend opened with a delayed follow session because of the circuit physician being late to reach. Sadly, the circuit physician can be wanted later within the weekend, when contact between Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson led to Villeneuve’s Ferrari somersaulting over the obstacles and touchdown in a prohibited space.
A marshal – who had been dispersing spectators from the prohibited grassed space between the guard rail and the fence – and a photographer have been killed within the accident, whereas ten spectators have been injured. Regardless of the unfolding tragedy, the race was not stopped. It was a scene which had grow to be all too frequent within the Nineteen Seventies. Each drivers concerned within the incident can be killed at F1 race weekends throughout the subsequent 5 years.
These have been the primary spectator casualties at any Japanese motor race, which marred F1’s presence in Japan. The 1977 Japanese Grand Prix would change into the final staged for a decade, for varied causes. Concrete attendance figures for the 1976 and 1977 races are unavailable however whereas they’d queued by means of the evening within the rain for the primary race in 1976 – with estimated attendance anyplace between 75,000 and 140,000 – the variety of spectators fell considerably in 1977.
It wasn’t only a lack of followers in stands making the race financially unviable. On the time, Western plane was banned from getting into airspace above the Soviet Union or China because of the Chilly Warfare, that means cargo for the race needed to take the good distance spherical, passing by means of Alaska, or Hong Kong, or each. The journey was subsequently longer and dearer for groups and others masking the race.
A Japanese Grand Prix was scheduled for the 1978 season, in April, however was faraway from the ultimate calendar. With that, F1’s transient introduction to Japan was over.
Suzuka Arrives
Had the 1978 Japanese Grand Prix taken place, it could have executed so at Suzuka reasonably than Fuji, as modern art work confirmed the race scheduled on the observe for April 5. Alas, it was to not be and Suzuka as a substitute needed to wait nearly one other decade for its first inclusion on the calendar.
There have been different false dawns for the Suzuka observe earlier than it made its bona fide debut. The circuit was included on the provisional calendar in 1985, set to happen in early April. Nevertheless, a delay within the rebuilding of the venue to carry it to modern-day FIA requirements meant that the return of the Japanese Grand Prix made two provisional appearances earlier than lastly going down for the primary time in 1987.
As was frequent within the twentieth century, a brand new circuit meant a further day of follow passed off previous to the official begin of the race weekend. The Thursday on-track motion was attended by 25,000 spectators, with numbers rising all through the weekend and peaking with 112,000 on race day. The inaugural race weekend at Suzuka had whole attendance of just below 250,000 and with thousands and thousands of followers having utilized for tickets by means of a lottery system, there was undoubtedly an urge for food for F1 in Japan.
Complete attendance dropped at Suzuka in 1988, although that may be a barely deceptive headline statistic as there was no Thursday motion within the race’s second yr on the calendar. Attendance fell by 14,000 in 1988 – however 25,000 had attended on Thursday in 1987. Precise attendance elevated by 1,000 on each Friday and Saturday, with 121,000 current on race day – a rise of 9,000 on the earlier yr.
Suzuka’s Legendary Years
Suzuka rapidly reached legendary standing because of internet hosting title deciders in all of its first 5 appearances on the schedule. The primary Japanese Grand Prix on the observe noticed the title determined in Nelson Piquet’s favour earlier than the race had begun when a hefty crash for title rival Nigel Mansell on Friday dominated him out for the remainder of the weekend. There then adopted Ayrton Senna’s first title win earlier than two controversial clashes between Senna and his arch-rival Alain Prost in 1989 and 1990, seeing every driver win the crown in unconventional methods.
Senna would win all three of his titles at Suzuka, his final coming on the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix. The Brazilian driver had grow to be considerably of a cultural phenomenon in Japan, arguably the nation the place he was hottest exterior of his native Brazil. His shut ties with Honda, his non secular nature and the truth that his success so often got here at Suzuka endeared him to the Japanese followers.
Other than Senna, Japanese followers additionally had residence expertise to help within the late Nineteen Eighties, with Satoru Nakajima and Aguri Suzuki on the grid. The latter turned the primary Japanese driver to complete on the rostrum, doing so at Suzuka in 1990.
Evidently, all of those components meant that attendances boomed and grew nearly yearly between 1988 and 1994, peaking with 357,000 followers in attendance for the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix. Such was the race’s reputation, a lottery needed to be held yearly within the occasion’s early years to whittle down the thousands and thousands who utilized for tickets to the fortunate 100,000 or so who would really obtain them. The 1990 race had seen three million individuals apply for tickets, 4 million in 1991 and 7 million in 1992.
The Misplaced Decade’s Influence on the Japanese Grand Prix
It’s maybe no shock, given his standing in Japan, that Japanese Grand Prix attendances started to fall following Senna’s demise within the early phases of the 1994 season. From the newest document determine in 1994 of 357,000, attendance on the 1995 Japanese Grand Prix fell by 27,000. It was the primary time that the Suzuka race didn’t promote out. However to say this was all a results of Senna’s tragic circumstances can be unfaithful.
There was a backdrop of monetary struggles within the nation earlier than the flip of the millennium. Japan entered a recession at the beginning of the Nineties, a time also known as “The Misplaced Decade”, because of its sustained interval of financial stagnation. Political instability meant there have been seven completely different prime ministers of Japan throughout the last decade and by 1997, Japan was within the midst of the Asian monetary disaster and the Japanese inhabitants had much less disposable revenue to spend.
Attendances at Suzuka remained comparatively robust in comparison with different races on the calendar, however there was doubtless a decline in informal attendance and company hospitality spending. From seven million purposes for tickets in 1993, the quantity fell to five.5 million in 1993 and 5 million in 1994. Nonetheless, the core viewers remained fanatical about their favorite drivers. How fanatical? In his Grand Prix Yr e-book in 1993, Murray Walker reported that the drivers needed to be airlifted the five hundred yards from the circuit lodge to the paddock to keep away from being mobbed!
The monetary state of affairs in Japan led to the withdrawal of Honda from System 1 on the finish of 1992 – one other consider declining attendance on the Japanese Grand Prix by means of the Nineties. The Japanese powerhouse had powered all three of Senna’s title wins. In addition to Japanese curiosity on the engine facet of issues, gone too had prime tier Japanese drivers. When Nakajima and Suzuki retired, the Japanese had Ukyo Katayama, Hideki Noda and Taki Inoue to help, none of whom precisely set the world alight with excellent outcomes, spending most of their careers in backmarking vehicles.
The Quick Lived Pacific Grand Prix
In each 1994 and 1995, there have been two races in Japan on the F1 calendar. Along with the Japanese Grand Prix, the Pacific Grand Prix was held on the Aida circuit. Located some 250km west of Suzuka, the 2 circuits have been shut sufficient collectively that the inclusion of a second race in Japan doubtless had a unfavourable however restricted impression on attendance figures at Suzuka.
In early 1995, Japan suffered a nationwide tragedy when the Nice Hanshin Earthquake killed over 6,000. The earthquake’s epicentre was close to Kobe, nearly equidistant between the Aida and Suzuka circuits. The Pacific Grand Prix had been scheduled to happen in April 1995 however harm to native infrastructure and communications meant that the occasion was postponed, with authorities rightly feeling that cash was higher spent repairing harm than staging a System 1 race.
The Pacific Grand Prix as a substitute passed off in October, paired with the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. It was the primary time in F1 historical past that two races passed off in the identical nation inside seven days of each other. It might show to be Aida’s final inclusion on the calendar. The observe was troublesome to get to, regardless of a $10 million funding in bettering native roads. Attendance in 1994 – the primary yr of a five-year contract for the occasion – was decrease than the 100,000 tickets that the promoter had hoped to promote. One yr later, there have been simply 15,000 followers in attendance on race day.
Into the New Millennium
Compared to Aida’s figures, Suzuka’s numbers have been very robust. Nonetheless, in 1996, attendance on the Japanese Grand Prix fell to its lowest degree because the Suzuka race’s early days on the calendar. With 303,000 in attendance in 1996, attendance would rise to slightly underneath 320,000 in every year as much as 2002. Race day figures steadily bounced again to 150,000 and general attendance rose as soon as extra to 326,000 in 2002 – the primary yr that Japanese producer Toyota was on the grid.
YearThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayWeekend
198725,00036,00074,000112,000247,000
198837,00075,000121,000233,000
198951,000100,000132,000283,000
199060,000115,000141,000316,000
199169,000120,000148,000337,000
199256,000126,000150,000332,000
199367,000132,000151,000350,000
199467,000135,000155,000357,000
199560,000125,000145,000330,000
199654,000110,000139,000303,000
199765,000112,000140,000317,000
199850,000120,000148,000318,000
199952,000120,000146,000318,000
200052,000115,000151,000318,000
200150,000110,000150,000310,000
200253,000118,000155,000326,000
200354,000120,000155,000329,000
200454,0000156,000210,000
200554,000110,000156,000320,000
200657,000143,000161,000361,000
The same degree of attendance adopted in 2003 however in 2004 the Japanese Grand Prix successfully turned a two-day occasion when Saturday’s motion on the observe was cancelled because of the incoming Hurricane Ma-on. Winds in extra of 100mph and heavy rain on the Saturday meant that the observe was closed to followers and no on-track motion passed off. Each qualifying and the race ran on Sunday, the place race day attendance really grew in comparison with one yr beforehand. Takuma Sato’s presence on the grid – and his maiden podium consequence earlier within the 2004 season – doubtless helped the determine to develop.
The Good Storm: 2006’s Report Japanese Grand Prix Attendance
Suzuka recorded it’s highest ever weekend attendance determine in 2006, with 361,000 spectators getting into the observe over the three days. 57,000 turned out on the Friday, 143,000 have been trackside on Saturday and 161,000 have been current on race day.
There have been various distinctive circumstances which led to the record-breaking determine, which stays within the prime 20 best-attended F1 weekends of all-time. First, the context of the 2006 season. Suzuka was internet hosting the penultimate spherical that yr, with Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher nonetheless vying for achievement in a title battle which might go right down to the wire. Schumacher did have the possibility to seal the deal at Suzuka, however his engine expired when he was main the race. It was the second to final alternative to see the German race with Ferrari, with the seven-time World Champion having introduced his retirement earlier within the season.
There was loads of native curiosity. 2006 had seen the Honda works workforce safe their first victory since 1967, with Jenson Button being victorious within the Hungarian Grand Prix. Toyota remained in competition for podiums by means of a lot of the season and there was additionally a brand new Japanese workforce on the grid within the type of Tremendous Aguri, with two Japanese drivers driving for it.
Moreover, the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix was to be the final at Suzuka, with Fuji Speedway returning to host the occasion from 2007 onwards. Rumours of a revival of the Pacific Grand Prix title for a further race at Suzuka did the rounds, however this was the final assured alternative for followers to see F1 on the now-legendary Suzuka.
The Fuji Years
From a observe owned by Honda, the Japanese Grand Prix moved to a observe owned by Toyota for 2007. The producer had invested enormous sums into rebuilding Fuji Speedway, having acquired the observe six years beforehand.
Earlier than F1 had even returned to Fuji, Suzuka’s return to the calendar had been confirmed. In September 2007, the announcement got here that the 2 venues would alternate on the calendar as host of the Japanese Grand Prix from 2009 onwards.
The 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, held in torrential rain, was awash with logistical points. The poor climate didn’t assist issues, however race organisers appeared ill-prepared to cope with such issues. Followers in a grandstand close to the primary nook have been refunded because of the poor views from their seats, whereas others have been reimbursed for his or her total journey because of delays in shuttle bus transportation. 20,000 spectators have been pressured to remain on the observe till 9pm on Saturday night when a street exterior of the circuit sank.
The 2008 race weekend was held in drier situations, with 105,000 spectators at Fuji Speedway on race day. In an try to enhance the expertise for followers trackside, attendance numbers had been restricted from 140,000 within the earlier yr, right down to a most of 110,000 in 2008.
By 2008, the worldwide monetary disaster had taken maintain and corporations have been starting to wrestle. It led to Honda’s sudden departure from the game on the finish of 2008 and led to Fuji Speedway withdrawing from its function as alternate host of the Japanese Grand Prix. Toyota, proprietor of the Fuji observe whose representatives mentioned the continuation of racing there might threaten the survival of all the firm, would finish its involvement in System 1 in equally sudden circumstances on the finish of 2009.
Return to Suzuka
Suzuka was confirmed to have unique internet hosting duties of the Japanese Grand Prix in 2010, the yr after it had returned to the calendar. When it did, it did so with a considerably decreased crowd. From whole attendance of 361,000 in 2006, the determine was simply 210,000 in 2009. Friday attendance was down from 57,000 to 31,000. Saturday’s determine fell from 143,000 to 78,000 and race day attendance was 60,000 down on the final race on the observe in 2006.
The 2009 determine was a brand new low for Suzuka – however even that was greater than any attendance on the observe within the 2010s. From 2010 to 2019, attendance would surpass 200,000 simply as soon as. That was in 2012, when Kamui Kobayashi was having a season to recollect with Sauber. He attained his maiden podium end at residence on the Japanese Grand Prix, turning into the primary Japanese diver to complete on the rostrum on the occasion since Aguri Suzuki in 1990.
The 2012 race weekend noticed 208,000 spectators throughout the race weekend and 103,000 lining the observe on race day. It might be the ultimate time that race day had an attendance of over 100,000 for over a decade.
Kobayashi was off the grid in 2013. He returned in 2014 with the back-marking Caterham workforce however that did little to enhance attendance numbers. Honda’s return to F1 with McLaren in 2015 noticed attendance enhance by 15,000 in comparison with the earlier yr however the producer’s lack of competitiveness meant that followers weren’t enticed again to the observe. Attendance fell additional over the following two years, to a brand new low of simply 137,000 in whole in 2017 – and a race day crowd of 68,000 – simply 11,000 greater than had attended Friday follow in 2006.
Typhoons of the 2010s
Climate continued to be a speaking level of Japanese Grand Prix weekends. In 2010, heavy rain on Saturday meant that – in a repeat of 2004 – qualifying was delayed till Sunday morning, the distinction this time being that the followers had been left ready within the grandstands till there was now not sufficient daylight to run the session safely.
In 2014, there have been discussions about modifications to the weekend schedule because of the approaching Hurricane Phanfone. No change was forthcoming and the race went forward as deliberate at its scheduled begin time, in very moist situations. The race was ended early when Marussia driver Jules Bianchi collided with a restoration car in conjunction with the circuit. Bianchi would die because of his accidents in July 2015.
YearFridaySaturdaySundayWeekend
200931,00078,000101,000210,000
201033,00061,00096,000190,000
201135,00062,000102,000199,000
201241,00064,000103,000208,000
201333,00052,00086,000171,000
201430,00048,00072,000150,000
201530,00054,00081,000165,000
201627,00046,00072,000145,000
201726,00043,00068,000137,000
201831,00053,00081,000165,000
201933,000089,000122,000
5 years later, in 2019, Saturday operating on the circuit was cancelled when Hurricane Hagibis was set to impression the observe. For the third time in Suzuka’s historical past, qualifying was run on Sunday morning and for the primary time since 2004, the observe was not open to followers on Saturday because of the incoming inclement climate.
From the low of 137,000 in 2017, attendances picked up in 2018 to 165,000 and would’ve continued to develop in 2019, had Saturday’s motion not been cancelled. The 2019 Friday determine was up by 2,000 on the 2019 quantity, whereas race day noticed 89,000 attend – a rise of 8,000 on the 2018 quantity.
The Pandemic Pause
System 1 didn’t go to Suzuka in 2020 or 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, however the circuit returned to the calendar – with a freshly prolonged contract – in 2022. F1-hungry followers snapped up tickets for the occasion, with the race weekend held in entrance of 200,000 spectators. It was the most important determine on the circuit in a decade, which is a very spectacular statistic contemplating there have been no international guests to the race. Japan was but to re-open its doorways to particular person international guests post-pandemic. Paradoxically, it did so two days after the race was held.
Japanese followers had native curiosity as soon as extra, with Yuki Tsunoda becoming a member of the grid in 2021 and Purple Bull having teamed up with Honda in a title-winning partnership. Amid Max Verstappen and Purple Bull’s most dominant season, 2023 noticed attendance rise to its highest degree because the 2006 document. Now re-opened to worldwide guests, Suzuka attracted a weekend crowd that was 22,000 up on the earlier yr, with race day attendance surpassing 100,000 for the primary time since 2012.
Regardless of the 2024 Suzuka race going down simply six months after the 2023 occasion as results of the Japanese Grand Prix shifting from its conventional autumn slot on the calendar to a brand new date in early April, attendance grew even additional, to 229,000.
YearFridaySaturdaySundayWeekend
202238,00068,00094,000200,000
202342,00079,000101,000222,000
202450,00077,000102,000229,000
The most important distinction in numbers in 2024 was on Friday, the place attendance grew by 8,000 in comparison with the earlier season, highlighting F1’s efforts to make race weekends a 3-day competition of unmissable motion. It was the most important Friday attendance at Suzuka since 2006. However to spotlight how distant from its document attendance ranges the observe is, Saturday attendance (which really decreased by 2,000 in comparison with 2023) was round half of its 2006 determine, whereas Sunday’s quantity was down by 59,000 on the Japanese document.
Suzuka’s enduring reputation has helped to safe the circuit’s longer-term future on the calendar. Japanese Grand Prix organisers signed a five-year contract extension in February 2024, conserving the observe on the schedule till no less than 2029. With rising year-on-year attendance and F1’s reputation displaying no indicators of waning, observe attendance might inch nearer to its mid 2000s glory days as the last decade progresses.
