From wheel-to-wheel scraps to a famous Qualifying showdown – 5 iconic Japanese Grand Prix battles

The Japanese Grand Prix hosts the next round of the 2026 championship, with the drivers and teams preparing to return to the popular Suzuka Circuit for a race that has witnessed some iconic battles in years gone by.

From wheel-to-wheel scraps that have unfolded amid treacherous weather conditions, through to a Qualifying duel for the ages between title rivals Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen, F1’s visits to Japan have delivered some seriously entertaining spectacles.

Join us as we take a look back at five of those memorable fights from past editions of the Japanese Grand Prix…

Felipe Massa vs Robert Kubica, 2007

In a year where the event was held at the Fuji Speedway, the F1 paddock’s trip to Japan in 2007 saw four drivers arrive still in contention for the World Championship with three rounds remaining.

Lewis Hamilton headed the standings from McLaren team mate Fernando Alonso, while the Ferrari pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were third and fourth respectively. Massa had fallen away somewhat in the points, but the Brazilian was still in fighting mood come race day.

Amid heavy rainfall, Massa slipped backwards from fourth on the grid early on, having made three pit stops within the first 20 laps. But after climbing through the order again, the Ferrari driver engaged in a close fight with the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica for sixth place.

With plenty of spray still on the track, the pair made contact more than once as well as each running off circuit – but it was ultimately Massa who crossed the line ahead to seal sixth place, with a margin of just over two-tenths of a second from Kubica.

Mika Hakkinen vs Michael Schumacher, 2000

The late 1990s and early 2000s witnessed several famed duels between McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen and Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, the pair having shared a respectful rivalry as they went head-to-head for the championship on more than one occasion.

A particularly iconic moment between the two World Champions occurred in 2000 during Qualifying at Suzuka, on the penultimate race weekend of a season in which their latest title fight was still to be decided.

An astonishing session saw Hakkinen and Schumacher continually exchange fastest lap times, with one provisionally securing pole position before the other would promptly better their own effort to snatch it away.

It was Schumacher who eventually came out on top to seal his 31st pole – and from there he took victory in Sunday’s race, confirming his third Drivers’ Championship and first as a Ferrari driver in the process.

Nico Hulkenberg vs Daniil Kvyat vs Sergio Perez, 2019

The Japanese Grand Prix has featured plenty of wheel-to-wheel duels between two drivers – but things went up a notch during the 2019 edition of the race when a thrilling three-way scrap ensued.

Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was under increasing pressure from the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg as the midfield runners battled for crucial points – while Sergio Perez in the Racing Point also rapidly closed in on the pair.

Though Kvyat kept Hulkenberg at bay for some time, the German eventually found a way past on the main straight. To make matters worse for the Toro Rosso driver, this move also opened the door for Perez who promptly followed Hulkenberg through, dropping Kvyat back two places.

The action did not end there for Perez, who later fought with the other Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly and ended up in the barriers but was still classified as ninth at the chequered flag.

Nigel Mansell vs Jean Alesi, 1994

As the penultimate race in a season that had witnessed an ongoing championship fight between Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher, F1’s visit to Suzuka in 1994 already promised drama before it had even begun – and the race would certainly deliver on that, and then some.

Dreadful weather conditions led to the Grand Prix being red-flagged and restarted behind the Safety Car, and the regulations at the time stipulated that the final result would be calculated based on the aggregate times from both halves of the race.

While a battle continued between Hill and Schumacher at the front, Nigel Mansell – who had returned to F1 for a brief stint with Williams following the death of Ayrton Senna – engaged in a dramatic scrap with Ferrari’s Jean Alesi, spray flying up from the earlier torrential rainfall.

After biding his time – and considering a couple of overtake opportunities before backing out – Mansell eventually made a brave move to sweep past Alesi and take the position on track. The aggregated result meant that Alesi was classified ahead in third, but Mansell’s determination was clear and the Briton would go on to claim his final victory at the next race in Australia.

Fernando Alonso vs Sebastian Vettel, 2022

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel were the lead protagonists in more than one fight for the World Championship – and the former title rivals had lost none of their drive when scrapping over P6 some years later at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix.

Alonso – racing for Alpine following his return to the grid in 2021 after a two-year hiatus from F1 – and Vettel – in his final season with Aston Martin before retiring at the end of the campaign – had an early clash when the rain-affected race got underway, the pair banging wheels in an incident that dropped Vettel down the order.

While the race was eventually suspended due to the weather conditions, Alonso and Vettel later resumed their battle when the action got underway again, leading to a thrilling sequence in the closing stages as the duo ran side-by-side.

Vettel managed to hold off the Spaniard by a mere one-hundredth of a second to take sixth place in the shortened race, leading the German to happily declare, “We got him, we got him!” over the radio.