The
Suzuka International Racing Course will host the 17th race of the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship from
7 September to 9 October.
Located in Suzuka City 150 km from Osaka in the Mie prefecture, the circuit was built at the request of Soichiro Honda. It became the first Japanese circuit to meet international standards when it was inaugurated in 1962, but it has hosted Formula 1 only since 1987. In 2003 the track was modified at several spots, resulting in a loss of about fifty metres.
At Suzuka, like at the other very "driven" tracks, the fast, wide curves (such as the legendary 130R where the single-seaters take it at full throttle) lead to only slightly challenging braking. Indeed, the single-seaters shoulder only one particularly abrupt braking section.
According to Brembo technicians, who have
classified the 21 World Championship tracks on a scale of 1 to 10, the Suzuka Circuit falls into the category of tracks that present a low level of difficulty on the brakes. The Japanese track earned a 4 on the difficulty index, the same score obtained by Spa-Francorchamps and higher only than Silverstone and Interlagos.