Five Things to Know About the 2025 Japanese GP

March is over, April has arrived, and Atlassian Williams Racing are looking to continue the early-season points-scoring run of 2025 with another top-10 finish at the Japanese GP.

A favourite circuit for fans and drivers alike, there is nothing else on the calendar that can match Suzuka and its figure-of-eight layout.

The Japanese GP rarely disappoints, so get yourself ready for a memorable weekend with these five things.

F1's move to have the Japanese Grand Prix earlier in the calendar last year meant the race coincided with one of the country's best times to visit.

Cherry blossom season is a huge deal in Japan, and the 'sakura' is an annual event that draws in domestic and international crowds.

Weather variations mean there is no fixed timeline to know when the blossom will bloom each year, so forecasting the season becomes must-watch news.

Fortunately for F1 fans, Mie Prefecture, home of the Japanese GP, has peak bloom and the race in the same week for 2025!

Japan enjoyed a brief period of hosting two grands prix in the 1990s when F1 ran the Pacific GP alongside the Japanese GP.

Okayama Circuit, then called the TI Circuit Aida, had the sport visit in 1994 and 1995. Williams secured both pole positions, while David Coulthard and Damon Hill took a double podium in the 1995 event.

The track even has 'Williams' as a corner name, and, although this is not connected to Williams Racing, there is a link to our founder Sir Frank Williams.

Many experienced British drivers attended the maiden event there and subsequently had corners named after them, with Jonathan Williams having the honour of Turn 2's eponymous title.

Although Jonathan never drove for Williams in F1, he did drive Frank's Formula Two entry in 1968 and the pair continued to work together in our founder's earlier years.

This Japanese weekend will kick off a busy time for Alex, Carlos, and the entire Williams operation as it marks the beginning of 2025's first triple-header.

We fly straight to Bahrain after this round, with Saudi Arabia coming just one week after our trip to the Sakhir Circuit.

It is one of two triple-headers in 2025, with the second being a whirlwind finale taking the sport from Las Vegas to Qatar, and ending in Abu Dhabi.

Although they might seem quite common for new F1 fans, these non-stop weekends only appeared for the first time in 2018 as the calendar continued expanding.

After avoiding the back-to-back-to-back races in 2019, triple-headers allowed the pandemic-affected 2020 season to reach 17 rounds, and they've been a part of F1 ever since.

Suzuka's figure-of-eight layout allows the track to be a lot more equal than most in terms of corner direction split.

There are 10 right-handers and eight left-handers that Carbono will tackle over our three days of running, and that 45/55 split allows for far more even tyre wear than we face at other tracks.

Nonetheless, the tyres have a lot of work to do on a Suzuka lap, as the corners can seem relentless for a driver on a 5.807 km tour of the circuit.

In fact, the twisty nature of the track means there is only one solitary DRS zone down the start-finish straight for drivers to benefit from the reduced drag by opening the rear wing.

Damon took his title here in Suzuka back in 1996, becoming the first son of an F1 champion to repeat a father's success.

The triumph that brought a lump to Murray Walker's throat was one of an incredible 14 championship-winning races held in Japan.

Nelson Piquet took his third championship title in 1987 at Suzuka while racing for Williams, too, even though he retired five laps from the chequered flag.

Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel, Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and James Hunt also had Japanese jubilation by picking up championship crowns in the country over the years.