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77-455: Soichiro Honda decided to develop a new permanent circuit in Mie prefecture in the late 1950s. Designed as a Honda test track in 1962 by Dutchman John "Hans" Hugenholtz , the most iconic feature of the track is its "figure eight" layout, with the 1.2 km (0.75 mi) long back straight passing over the front section by means of an overpass . It is the only FIA Grade 1 licensed track to have

154-545: A "figure eight" layout, after the Fiorano Circuit was downgraded to Grade 2 in 2024. The circuit has been modified at least eight times: In 1983 a chicane was inserted at the last curve to slow the cars into the pit straight; the original circuit was an incredibly fast track with only one slow corner; without the Casio chicane some cars would go through the final long right-hand corner flat out and then would go past

231-521: A 300 km/h side by side battle with Alonso for the lead. Ferrari took their first 1–2 finish of the season in France with Kimi Räikkönen winning from polesitter, Felipe Massa. In Britain Hamilton took his third pole position, going on to finish a distant third behind winner Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso. Europe (Germany) would see Hamilton's run of nine consecutive podiums come to an end. After

308-564: A Dutch-Arab consortium owned by Michiel Mol , along with the aid of Spyker Cars . The team was officially renamed Spyker MF1 Team, keeping the MF1 for the rest of the season due to Concorde Agreement rules. On 30 September 2006, Spyker announced that their engine supplier would be Ferrari . On 16 October 2006, Renault confirmed that the Dutch banking company, ING , would become their main sponsor to replace Mild Seven , which has sponsored

385-480: A Formula One season did not feature Cosworth-powered cars. However the company would return to the sport from 2010 season onwards. On 29 August 2006, The FIA published a provisional calendar for the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. The San Marino and European Grands Prix were excluded, although the European round would later make a comeback (see below). The final calendar (above), which confirmed that

462-655: A US B-29 bomber attack destroyed Tōkai Seiki's Yamashita plant in 1944 and the Iwata plant collapsed in the 1945 Mikawa earthquake . After the war, Honda sold the salvageable remains of the company to Toyota for ¥450,000 and used the proceeds to found the Honda Technical Research Institute in October 1946. In 1948 he started producing a complete motorized bicycle , the Type A, which was driven by

539-591: A bit straighter and faster; additionally, the runoff area at the Dunlop Curve was doubled from 12 metres to 25 metres, and the corner itself was made slightly tighter. In 2003, the chicane was made slightly faster and closer to the 130R. Following the death of Daijiro Kato at the 2003 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix , Suzuka reconfigured the motorcycle variant of what is now known as the Hitachi Automotive Systems Chicane before

616-501: A garage in 1922. After some hesitation over his employment, he stayed for six years, working as a car mechanic before returning home to start his own auto repair business in 1928 at the age of 22. Honda raced a turbocharged Ford in the "1st Japan Automobile Race" at Tamagawa Speedway in 1936. He crashed and seriously injured his left eye. His brother was also injured. After that, he quit racing. In 1937, Honda founded Tōkai Seiki to produce piston rings for Toyota . During World War II,

693-510: A large crash in qualifying he started in 10th in the race. On lap 4 he aquaplaned off the circuit in a torrential rainstorm but the race was stopped. He restarted after his car was pulled out of the gravel but after taking a gamble to change early to dry tyres on a drying track, he spun off several times but recovered to finish 9th, just missing out on the final point. After a qualifying incident between Alonso and Hamilton in which Alonso prevented Hamilton from completing his final flying lap, Alonso

770-407: A mistake in turn 1, losing several places while Hamilton was opening a gap between himself and Nick Heidfeld. On lap 22 the first safety car period began after Adrian Sutil hit the concrete wall. The safety car went into the pits on lap 28 but before the lap could be completed Robert Kubica had a massive accident. He had lost his front wing after hitting Jarno Trulli. He then went wide and hit a bump on

847-539: A one-year absence in 2006 due to track maintenance. For the first time since 1975 , no country hosted more than one Grand Prix. Pre-season testing began in November 2006 at the Circuit de Catalunya , with ten of the eleven teams participating in the test sessions. The most notable absentees were Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen , who were still under contract at Renault and McLaren respectively. Jenson Button

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924-722: A part of multiple GT racing series including the now defunct group C class of the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship , the Suzuka 1000 km as of 2006 is now a points round of the Super GT Series, and is the only race of such length in that series. In 2010 , the GT500 pole position time was 1:55.237. In 2007 , the GT300 pole position time was 2:06.838. Another major motorsport event

1001-596: A problem, but some of the other children's family names were not. Even as a toddler, Honda had been thrilled by the first car that was ever seen in his village. In later life, he would often say that he could never forget the smell of oil it gave off, saying that it smelled "like perfume". Soichiro once borrowed one of his father's bicycles to see a demonstration of an airplane made by pilot Art Smith , which cemented his love for machinery and invention. At 15, without any formal education, Honda left home and headed to Tokyo to look for work. He obtained an apprenticeship at

1078-446: A race seat for 2007, replacing Australian Mark Webber . On 7 August 2006, Red Bull Racing announced their 2007 driver line-up of David Coulthard and Mark Webber , displacing Christian Klien . On 7 August 2006, BMW Sauber announced that Jacques Villeneuve 's contract had been terminated immediately and for the rest of the season would be replaced by test driver Robert Kubica . Kubica was later announced on 19 October 2006 to retain

1155-461: A result of Red Bull Racing switching to Renault engines, this marked the first time Renault had supplied more than one team in the sport since the 1997 season (when it supplied Williams and Benetton ) as a fully-fledged engine manufacturer (although from 1998 - 2000 Renault had supplied more than one team but under Mecachrome , Playlife and Supertec brandings respectively). On 15 March 2007, Spyker announced their new title sponsor for

1232-468: A sponsorless livery in 2007. Williams changed their engines from Cosworth to Toyota in a three-year deal until 2009. Contrary to speculation at the time, the engines were not rebadged as Lexus. Red Bull officially became an Austrian constructor by receiving an Austrian licence , though continued to operate from the same base in Britain. On 9 September 2006, MF1 Racing was officially sold to

1309-535: A tight right-hander. The "west" course is made up of the other part of the full circuit, including the crossover bridge; the straight leading to the overpass is used for the start/finish line and the grid. The chicane between the hairpin and 200R separates the west and full course sections between cars and motorcycles. The Degner curve was named in honour of Ernst Degner after he crashed his factory Suzuki 50 there during Suzuka's inaugural All Japan Championship Road Race meeting on 3 November 1962. The hairpin (turn 11)

1386-563: A tuner for Honda vehicles who also created original racing vehicles. ASME established the Soichiro Honda Medal in recognition of Mr. Honda's achievements in 1982; this medal recognizes outstanding achievement or significant engineering contributions in the field of personal transportation. In 1989, he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame near Detroit . Soichiro Honda died on August 5, 1991, days before

1463-501: A wooden shack manufacturing bicycle motors to a multinational automobile and motorcycle manufacturer. Honda was born in Kōmyō village, Iwata District, Shizuoka , near Hamamatsu on November 17, 1906. He spent his early childhood helping his father, Gihei Honda, a blacksmith , with his bicycle repair business. At the time his mother, Mika Honda, was a weaver. Honda was not interested in traditional education. His school handed grade reports to

1540-534: Is the Suzuka 8 Hours for motorcycles, which has been run since 1978. This event usually attracts big name riders and with the exception of 2005, due to the importance of the major manufacturers' involvement, the FIM ensures that no motorcycle races clash on the date. NASCAR organized the NASCAR Thunder 100 , a pair of exhibition 100-lap races on the east circuit, a 1.4 mi (2.3 km) layout which utilizes

1617-451: The 2012 event, the pole position time was 52.885 seconds, for an average speed of 94.875 mph (152.687 km/h). Following two major accidents in 2002 and 2003, one of the main issues in safety has been at the corner 130R (marked 15 in the track map above). In 2002, Toyota F1 driver Allan McNish suffered a high-speed crash through the bump, which sent him through a metal fence; he was not seriously injured. Track officials revised

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1694-581: The Brazilian Grand Prix . Ferrari technical director, Ross Brawn , was to take a sabbatical year for 2007, after ten seasons at the Italian team since 1997. However, it was later announced that he would leave the team. In 2008 , Ross Brawn became Team Principal of the Honda team. McLaren signed a title sponsorship deal with the telecommunications company Vodafone late in 2005. With

1771-496: The FIA from the 2008 season onwards, which prohibited teams from using this kind of technology . The season also saw the debuts of future world champions Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel . Honda ran with an "Earth livery" on their RA107 car. It was the first time since 1968 , the year in which sponsorship in the sport became widespread, that a team ran sponsor-free for an entire season. Michelin 's withdrawal from F1 at

1848-702: The Hungarian Grand Prix , of liver failure . He was 84. Ayrton Senna , winner of the Grand Prix, dedicated the victory to the late Soichiro Honda. He was posthumously appointed to the senior third rank in the order of precedence and appointed a Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun . 2007 Formula One World Championship The 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 61st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured

1925-532: The Nürburgring circuits for the naming rights. The Nürburgring event therefore retained its usual European Grand Prix title. After twenty years of being hosted at the Honda -owned Suzuka Circuit since 1987, the Japanese Grand Prix moved to Toyota 's rebuilt Fuji Speedway , a circuit that F1 had not raced at since 1977 . The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps returned after

2002-412: The 130R, redesigning it as a double-apex section, one with an 85 m (93 yd) radius, and then a second featuring a 340 m (370 yd) radius, leading to a much closer Casio triangle (chicane), with the chicane becoming a "bus stop" type for motorcycles. However, the problem continued for the new revised section. During the 2003 MotoGP Grand Prix of Japan , the track's first major event since

2079-442: The 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship, which began on 18 March and ended on 21 October after seventeen events. The Drivers' Championship was won by Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen by one point at the final race of the season , making Räikkönen the third Finnish driver to take the title. An appeal by McLaren regarding the legality of some cars in the final race could have altered the championship standings, but on 16 November,

2156-399: The 2007 season: United Arab Emirates airline company Etihad Airways . On 30 September 2006, Cosworth announced that they would temporarily withdraw from Formula One as an engine supplier, citing lack of room for supplying engines for private teams after Williams switched to Toyota engines and Spyker opted for Ferrari engines from 2007 season onwards and thus for the first time since 1962

2233-544: The Constructors' Championship. As a result, Ferrari clinched the championship at the Belgian Grand Prix . Defending double Constructors' Champions Renault proved to be uncompetitive with their R27 car taking them to third in the constructors' standings (after McLaren's disqualification from the standings) and ended up win-less for the first time since the 2002 season. Renault achieved one podium during

2310-565: The Enstone-based team during the 13 years since 1994. On 20 October 2006, Williams announced AT&T as their new main sponsor. On 24 October 2006, Spyker announced they would change their name from Spyker MF1 Team to Spyker F1 from 2007 onwards, subject to all other teams giving their agreement. On 31 October 2006, Red Bull confirmed their engine situation for 2007. Renault engines were used by Red Bull Racing , while Scuderia Toro Rosso used 2006-spec Ferrari engines. As

2387-588: The FIA and Ecclestone on financial and technical grounds. They had threatened to boycott Formula One from the 2008 season onwards and instead stage their own rival series, before signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix . 2007 also marked the seventh and final season, since its reintroduction in 2001 , in which the use of traction control was permitted in Formula One . Standardised electronic control units (ECUs) were mandated by

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2464-680: The Formula 1 official website, except where noted. Note that there is no car number 13, as is the historical tradition. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Bridgestone. Three constructors entered free practice only drivers over the course of the season: Sebastian Vettel for BMW Sauber at the opening two rounds, Christian Klien for Honda at the British Grand Prix and Kazuki Nakajima for Williams at five Grands Prix. The 2005 and 2006 World Champion Fernando Alonso switched to McLaren after five years at Renault . Following

2541-684: The Formula One calendar for the 2007 and 2008 seasons in favour of the Toyota -owned Fuji Speedway , after the latter underwent a transformation and redesign by circuit designer Hermann Tilke . Suzuka and Fuji were to alternate hosting the Japanese Grand Prix from 2009. However, after Fuji announced in July 2009 that it would no longer be part of the F1 calendar, Suzuka signed a deal to host

2618-496: The Japanese Grand Prix in 2009 , 2010 and 2011 . The circuit closed for a year for renovations to make it F1-compliant for 2009, with the last major event held on November 18, 2007, although some annual events (for instance, the Suzuka 8 Hours and Suzuka 1000 km ) were still held. The track held a re-opening day on April 12, 2009. Suzuka also hosts other motorsport events including the Suzuka 1000 km endurance race. Previously

2695-706: The San Marino Grand Prix would not return, was released on 18 October 2006. For the first time in nearly half a century, no German Grand Prix was held as a result of the circuits previously hosting a Grand Prix in Germany beginning to alternate in organizing the German Grand Prix. However, the promoter for the Hockenheim race controlled the rights to the descriptor " German Grand Prix " and an agreement could not be reached between them and

2772-437: The Type A and the Type D models as two of their 240 Landmarks of Japanese Automotive Technology . After the war, Honda became reacquainted with his friend Takeo Fujisawa , whom he had known during his days as a supplier of piston rings to Nakajima Aircraft Company . In 1949, Honda hired Fujisawa, who oversaw the financial side of the company and helped the firm expand. In 1959, Honda Motorcycles opened its first dealership in

2849-615: The United States. As president of the Honda Motor Company, Soichiro Honda turned the company into a billion-dollar multinational that produced the best-selling motorcycles in the world. Honda's engineering and marketing skills resulted in Honda motorcycles outselling Triumph and Harley-Davidson in their respective home markets. Honda remained president until his retirement in 1973, where he stayed on as director and

2926-507: The appeal was rejected by the International Court of Appeal, confirming the championship results. Räikkönen entered the final race in third position in the drivers' standings, but emerged as champion after the chequered flag, a feat first accomplished by Giuseppe Farina in 1950 . A major talking point of the season had been an espionage controversy involving Ferrari and McLaren , which led to McLaren being excluded from

3003-450: The children, but required that they be returned stamped with the family seal, to make sure that a parent had seen it. Honda created a stamp to forge his family seal out of a used rubber bicycle pedal cover. The fraud was soon discovered when he started to make forged stamps for other children. Honda was unaware that the stamp was supposed to be mirror-imaged. His family name 本田 (Honda) is symmetrical when written vertically, so it did not cause

3080-548: The early tests, although it was claimed by Bridgestone that the 2007 tyre is of a completely new build, thus minimising any real benefit for the 2006 Bridgestone teams ( Ferrari , Toyota , Williams , Midland / Spyker and Super Aguri ). Toyota was the only team out for the fourth day of testing at Barcelona, as the Japanese works team chose to miss the first day of testing. Both Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli 's fastest laps were quicker than Massa and Badoer's times during

3157-431: The end of 2006 meant that Bridgestone was the sole tyre supplier for 2007. As of 2024 , this is the last Drivers' Championship won by a Ferrari driver and the last drivers' title won by a Finnish driver to date in Formula One. The following teams and drivers participated in the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. Drivers' cars are numbered as per the official FIA 2007 entry list. All team details are as per

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3234-622: The esses during an evaluation run. The pole position speed was 83.079 mph (133.703 km/h). During qualifying for the 1997 race, rain caused Goodyear to use rain tires on Winston Cup cars for the first time in the modern era. It was announced on June 21, 2010, that the east section of the Suzuka Circuit would host the Japan round of the 2011 WTCC season instead of the Okayama International Circuit . At

3311-399: The face. Even at his advanced age, Soichiro and his wife Sachi both held private pilot's licenses. He also enjoyed skiing , golf , racing cars , hang gliding and ballooning at 77, and he was a highly accomplished artist. He and Takeo Fujisawa made a pact never to force their own sons to join the company. His son, Hirotoshi Honda , was the founder and former CEO of Mugen Motorsports ,

3388-569: The final race in Taito's racing game Continental Circus . The east course was featured in NASCAR 98 . Suzuka's Ferris wheel was paid homage in the "Big Forest Track" in Virtua Racing . The track has been modded into Mario Kart Wii . Project CARS and Project CARS 2 have a Japanese circuit inspired by Suzuka, called Sakitto Circuit . Sakitto has numerous visual differences from

3465-468: The final turn, and added a second chicane, between the hairpin and 200R. The circuit can be used in five configurations; the car full circuit, the motorcycle full circuit, the "Suzuka east," "Suzuka west car," and "Suzuka west motorcycle" configurations. The "east" portion of the course consists of the pit straight to the first half of the Dunlop curve (turn seven), before leading back to the pit straight via

3542-415: The first held at Suzuka. The Degner curve was made into two corners instead of one long curve, and more crash barriers , more run-off areas were added, exposed vegetation was barricaded off and straw bales were removed (but still used for the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix). In 2002, the chicane was slightly modified, 130R (marked as 15 on the diagram) was also modified and some of the snake curves were made

3619-459: The first mass-produced engine designed by Honda, and was sold until 1951. The Type D in 1949 was a true motorcycle with a pressed-steel frame designed and produced by Honda and with a 2-stroke , 98 cc (6.0 cu in) 3 hp (2.2 kW) engine, and became the first model in the Dream series of motorcycles. The Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan  [ ja ] lists both

3696-502: The first rookie to finish on the podium in more than his first two outings. McLaren dominated Monaco with Alonso winning from Hamilton after the pair had lapped everybody apart from themselves and Felipe Massa, who was not too far from being lapped. The Canadian GP included four safety car periods and one of the biggest crashes of Formula One in that era. The race started off with the second all-McLaren front row with Hamilton taking his first pole position followed by Alonso. Alonso made

3773-407: The grass that launched him into the air and into a violent impact with the retaining barrier at a peak deceleration of 75G. The safety car was once again deployed and went in on lap 35. Hamilton once again opened up a gap to second-placed Heidfeld until lap 50 when Christijan Albers left a lot of debris on the track after a crash forcing the deployment of the safety car. The race restarted on lap 55 and

3850-400: The loss of Vodafone , Scuderia Ferrari began a sponsorship deal with Alice, a brand of Telecom Italia . Mild Seven confirmed that they would not renew their contract with Renault following its conclusion at the end of 2006 due to current European tobacco laws. British American Tobacco 's Lucky Strike and 555 brands ceased to sponsor the Honda team, following which the team ran

3927-487: The organisers of the Japanese Grand Prix installed a large crane in place of the tractor that Bianchi hit. Suzuka, openly touted by F1 drivers and fans as one of the most enjoyed, is also one of the oldest remaining tracks of the Formula One World Championship, and has a long history of races as venue of the Japanese Grand Prix since 1987. Its traditional role as one of the last Grands Prix of

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4004-556: The original Suzuka, including the change of position of the Ferris wheel near to Degner curves, as well as the absence of the Casio triangle and the hairpin, a very modified esses section, and a road pass through the real life location of the Ferris wheel. Soichiro Honda Soichiro Honda ( 本田 宗一郎 , Honda Sōichirō , 17 November 1906 – 5 August 1991) was a Japanese engineer and industrialist . In 1948, he established Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and oversaw its expansion from

4081-468: The pit straight and esses, before rejoining the main circuit near the Casio triangle. The cars were Sprint Cup Series and Camping World West Series cars and the field was by invitation for the two races, run after the 1996 and 1997 seasons. The 1996 event was marred by tragedy when during practice, pace car driver Elmo Langley died of a heart attack in the Chevrolet Corvette pace car at

4158-471: The pits at more than 200 mph (320 km/h). In 1984 the first part of Spoon was made slightly slower and the corner was brought closer to the track to expand run-off area there, and in 1985 the first corner was made slightly slower. In 1987 the circuit was brought up to F1 and Grand Prix motorcycle standards for both Japanese Grands Prix of their respective championships, the F1 Grand Prix being

4235-435: The previous three sessions. Testing resumed on 6 December at Jerez , with the majority of teams attending the session. Both Ferraris of Massa and Badoer were first and second fastest, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton making up the top three in third. Hamilton improved on his position the following day by taking the fastest time, a second faster than Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella . Japanese works teams Honda and Toyota topped

4312-636: The qualifying for the aforementioned 2019 race. As of July 2024, the fastest official race lap records at the Suzuka Circuit are listed as: Along with Fuji Speedway , the Suzuka Circuit was one of the four tracks featured in the video game Pole Position II . The track is referred to in the Namco Museum versions of the game as the "Wonder Circuit" ("Orange Circuit" in Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade ), after Namco's "Wonder" series of amusement parks, despite its logo appearing on

4389-409: The race seat for the 2007 season, with Sebastian Vettel remaining as the team's test driver. On 21 December 2006 BMW Sauber announced former Jordan F1 and GP2 driver Timo Glock as their second test driver. On 6 September 2006, Renault confirmed Heikki Kovalainen as the team's replacement for Fernando Alonso . On 10 September 2006, Scuderia Ferrari announced Kimi Räikkönen to replace for

4466-560: The retirement of Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve , Alonso was the only driver on the grid in this season who had previously won a drivers' championship. Juan Pablo Montoya , who was a McLaren driver until the aftermath of the 2006 United States Grand Prix moved to the NASCAR Cup Series for 2007, effectively ending his Formula One career, as announced on 9 July 2006. On 2 August 2006, Williams announced that test and reserve driver Alexander Wurz would step up to

4543-560: The retiring Michael Schumacher . On 15 November 2006, Super Aguri confirmed Anthony Davidson as Sakon Yamamoto 's replacement. On 24 November 2006, McLaren confirmed Lewis Hamilton , their junior program driver who won the GP2 Series title that year as their second driver. On 21 December 2006, Spyker confirmed Adrian Sutil as their first driver, replacing WTCC -bound Tiago Monteiro . On 10 July 2007, Spyker announced that Christijan Albers would no longer be driving for

4620-416: The revisions, MotoGP rider Daijiro Kato was killed when he crashed in the new section, on his way to the braking zone for the Casio triangle. MotoGP has not returned to Suzuka since the incident. The official lap record for the current circuit layout is 1:30.983, set by Lewis Hamilton during the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix . The unofficial all-time track record is 1:27.064, set by Sebastian Vettel during

4697-417: The safety car was deployed again on lap 56 after Vitantonio Liuzzi hit the so-called 'Wall of Champions'. The safety car period was extended after Jarno Trulli hit the tyre barrier at the exit of the pitlane after trying to catch up with the field. On the restart Hamilton led to the finish to claim his maiden win in his sixth race. The next race at Indianapolis saw Hamilton lead from the start until victory after

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4774-453: The season means numerous world championships have been decided at the track. Four years consecutively in its early history the circuit saw the world championship decided. These include the 1988 championship, which went to Ayrton Senna , the controversial 1989 championship, which went to Alain Prost , and the 1990 and 1991 world championships, which both went to Senna. Suzuka was dropped from

4851-480: The season, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing second at the rain affected 2007 Japanese Grand Prix . The 2007 season heralded the end of the existing Concorde Agreement between the existing Formula One constructors and Bernie Ecclestone . In particular, Mercedes-Benz , BMW , and Honda (collectively the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association ) had a number of outstanding disagreements with

4928-523: The start of the season, would narrowly give him the World Drivers' Championship. With Hamilton and Alonso level on points their positions were determined by countback. Each driver had won four races, but Hamilton had five second-place finishes to Alonso's four, so he was awarded second place in the Championship, with Alonso third. Points were awarded to the top eight classified finishers using

5005-833: The starter's box since 1983. The Suzuka Circuit is also featured in the Final Lap series of games which first appeared in 1987. Another Namco racing game, Suzuka 8 Hours , based on the motorcycle race of the same name was released for arcades in 1992, followed by a port for the Super NES in 1993. It can also be seen in arcade games and video games such as Ferrari F355 Challenge , Super Monaco GP , Forza series, Gran Turismo series, RaceRoom , iRacing , R: Racing Evolution , Shift 2 Unleashed , Le Mans 24 Hours , The Cycles , MotoGP 3 of PlayStation 2 , MotoGP 4 , Tourist Trophy , Auto Modellista , Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix , Real Racing 3 , and as

5082-721: The team. The given reason was a failure to pay sponsorship monies due. Markus Winkelhock raced Spyker's second car at the European Grand Prix. On 25 July 2007 Spyker confirmed that the Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto would compete in the remaining seven Grands Prix for them. On 31 July 2007, Scuderia Toro Rosso replaced Scott Speed with BMW test driver Sebastian Vettel following an alleged physical altercation between Speed and STR Team Principal Franz Tost . On 8 October 2007, Williams driver Alexander Wurz announced his immediate retirement from Formula One racing. Williams test driver Kazuki Nakajima replaced Wurz for

5159-728: The times for the next two days of testing: Honda's Rubens Barrichello and Toyota's Franck Montagny were fastest, although Toyota had the Jerez track to themselves when Montagny took the fastest time. Heikki Kovalainen and Pedro de la Rosa took the fastest times on the fourth and fifth day of testing at Jerez. Also of note, on the last day of testing Fernando Alonso made his McLaren testing debut after an agreement with manager Flavio Briatore . This did not call for an end to his agreement (which ended on 31 December). The season started at Albert Park in Australia on 18 March. Kimi Räikkönen led

5236-463: The whole race, and became the fourth driver to win on their debut for Ferrari. Fernando Alonso came second and debutant Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd. Felipe Massa took his first pole of the season in Malaysia but Alonso won his first race with McLaren while Hamilton finished second. Massa led the entire race to win in both Bahrain and Spain , and in both races Hamilton finished second, becoming

5313-409: Was also absent as he had suffered a hairline fracture on his ribs after a go-karting accident in preparations for the November tests. Lewis Hamilton made his first appearance in a McLaren since being confirmed as Alonso's teammate for 2007. Felipe Massa topped the times on the first two days of testing. Massa's testing partner, Luca Badoer , took the fastest time on the third day, although interest

5390-619: Was appointed "supreme advisor" in 1983. His status was such that People magazine placed him on their "25 Most Intriguing People of the Year" list for 1980, dubbing him "the Japanese Henry Ford." In retirement, Honda busied himself with work connected with the Honda Foundation. In his memoirs, Soichiro Honda expressed his sorrow for sometimes being rude to his employees, humiliating and occasionally even slapping them in

5467-487: Was coined 'Kobayashi Corner' after Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi passed five drivers with aggressive moves at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix . At the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix , F1 driver Jules Bianchi suffered serious injuries after colliding with a recovery vehicle, and died in hospital as a result nine months later. In the wake of the accident, the Dunlop corner was slightly changed and revised in safety standards, and

5544-467: Was demoted to 6th on the grid at the Hungarian Grand Prix while McLaren was made ineligible for points for the constructors' championship for that race. Hamilton then took victory with Räikkönen coming second. In Turkey Felipe Massa took a dominant victory followed by Räikkönen and Alonso. Hamilton finished fifth after he suffered a tyre failure while running in 3rd. In Italy Alonso won from Hamilton followed by Räikkönen. Following that Grand Prix McLaren

5621-464: Was excluded from the constructors' championship after having been found guilty of theft and illegal usage of confidentional technical information of Ferrari . The team did not receive any constructors' points from subsequent races. In Belgium Räikkönen won from Massa and Alonso, thus allowing Ferrari to clinch the world constructors' championship from BMW Sauber following McLaren's exclusion. The Japanese Grand Prix moved to Fuji Speedway . The event

5698-402: Was marked by treacherous weather and was started behind the safety car. Lewis Hamilton survived a brush with Robert Kubica to win from Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Räikkönen. At the last three corners Kubica and Felipe Massa ran side by side in a battle for 6th, while Fernando Alonso aquaplaned and crashed on lap 41 of 67. In China, Hamilton won his 6th pole of the season and led up to lap 28 when he

5775-516: Was on the fact that double World Champion Mika Häkkinen joined Hamilton and de la Rosa at McLaren for a one-off test, although the Finnish driver was over three seconds slower than Badoer's time, completing 79 laps of the Spanish circuit. The other big story of 2007 was the return to a single tyre supplier ( Bridgestone ). It was perceived that this accounted for some of the reason why Ferrari led

5852-400: Was overtaken by Räikkönen and he then spun off entering the pitlane. The season finale marked the first time since 1986 that three drivers had a chance of becoming World Champion at the season finale, and the first time since the inaugural season in 1950 that the man who stood in third before the final race went on to win the championship (the driver in 1950 being Giuseppe Farina ). Hamilton

5929-404: Was the favourite with 107 points followed by Alonso with 103 points and Räikkönen with 100 points. Hamilton started 2nd but dropped to the back of the pack after a gearbox problem. He recovered to 7th but Räikkönen won the race and the championship. The final standings were Räikkönen with 110 points followed by Hamilton and Alonso each with 109 points. Räikkönen's late charge, following worse luck at

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