Japan Grand Prix – The highlights

1991: The third title for Ayrton Senna.

For the fifth consecutive year, the result of the Suzuka race would determine the world champion of the season. Ayrton Senna had been directly involved in four of these competitions. The Brazilian had already won the title in 1988 and 1990. In 1991, this time, he would have to face his rival from Williams, Nigel Mansell.

Ayrton Senna starts second on the grid, while the British driver is just behind him. On the 9th lap, Nigel Mansell tries to overtake the Brazilian, but pushes too hard at the first corner of the circuit and ends up in the gravel trap. This mistake offers Senna his third world championship title. The McLaren driver actually wins his crown exactly at the same corner where he had crashed with Alain Prost the previous year. An accident that had also given the title to the Brazilian.

“« I saw everything in my rearview mirror and I admit I wasn’t sad », Senna will say sarcastically about Mansell’s mistake after the race, in a rather sarcastic comment.”

2006: An engine failure for Schumacher that delights Alonso.

We are on October 8, 2006, and it is the second-to-last race of the world championship. Michael Schumacher can get closer to his eighth title, as he currently holds the same number of points in the standings as Fernando Alonso – 116 points. However, the German occupies the first position thanks to his greater number of victories.

Second part of the race, Schumacher quickly takes the lead, closely followed by the Spaniard. But, 16 laps from the finish, the Ferrari driver experiences an engine failure, to the delight of his rival. A mechanical breakdown that hadn’t occurred to the seven-time champion since the French Grand Prix in 2000.

“Fernando Alonso overtakes him on the straight and raises his fist in victory. And rightly so: thanks to this first place, the Spaniard wins his second world champion title at the following Grand Prix in Brazil. “Seeing a mechanical problem on a Ferrari is not something that happens often. It was a surprise for the race,” the Spaniard declared in a press conference. These statements seem distant now…”

2014: The tragedy of Jules Bianchi

On October 5, 2014, the Japanese Grand Prix was forever marked by the terrible accident of French driver Jules Bianchi. On the 43rd lap, in pouring rain, Adrian Sutil aquaplaned at the “Dunlop” (turn 7) and crashed his Sauber C33 into the tire barrier. A crane was dispatched to remove the car from the track. The race officials did not deploy the safety car; only yellow flags were waved in the area.

On the 44th lap, Jules Bianchi loses control of his car for the same reasons as Sutil. His Marussia MR03 violently collides with the recovery vehicle occupied at the German’s single-seater. Unconscious, the Frenchman is taken to the hospital. After nine months in a coma, Jules Bianchi died on July 17, 2015, in Nice. He was 25 years old.

Following this tragedy, the FIA has decided to withdraw Jules Bianchi’s number, 17, from the competition. This tragic accident has also contributed to the introduction of the safety halo in F1, which has since saved numerous lives.