The first Japanese Grand Prix, in 1976, was held at the Fuji circuit, 40 miles north of Yokohama. The race was to become famous for the title decider between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. In monsoon conditions, Lauda, who had survived a near-fatal crash at the German Grand Prix earlier in the season, decided his life was more important than the championship, allowing Hunt to score the 3rd position he needed to win the title by the slender margin of one point. Hunt returned the next year to win the 2nd Japanese Grand Prix, but a collision between Gilles Villeneuve and Ronnie Peterson during the race saw Villeneuve's Ferrari somersault into a restricted area, killing a marshal. The race did not reappear on the Formula One calendar for another decade.
On Formula 1's return to Japan in 1987, the Grand Prix found a new venue at Suzuka, 50 miles south west of Nagoya. The circuit, set inside a funfair, was designed by Dutchman John Hugenholtz and owned by Honda, who used it as a test track. Most notable initially for its layout—Suzuka is the only figure-eight race track on the F1 calendar—immediately it saw another World Title decided, as Nigel Mansell crashed his Williams-Honda in practice, handing the crown to his teammate Nelson Piquet. Suzuka will always be chiefly remembered, however, for the legendary feud between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. During the 1989 Grand Prix, Senna tried to overtake Prost to keep his Championship hopes alive, only for Prost to swerve into him, taking both men out and handing the title to Prost. A year on and Senna reciprocated, ramming Prost off the road at the first corner to secure his own World Crown. Senna later admitted that he had done this on purpose.
The late 20th and early 21st century have seen a number of other, rather more sporting duels for the Championship at Suzuka, most memorably those between Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen. The most notable of these was at the 2000 race, where Schumacher took advantage of his superior speed in damp conditions during a mid-race rain shower to secure the race win, and his first World Title for Ferrari—his third in all. At the most recent Japanese Grand Prix, on October 12, 2003, Michael Schumacher endured one of the most trying races in his illustious career but managed to secure the point he needed to take his sixth World Championship, beating the record held by Juan Manuel Fangio.
History
Japanese Grand Prix Winners