Suzuka

What a hectic day!!!

We had to catch a 2hr train from Osaka to Shiroko, then a 15 min bus from Shiroko to Suzuka. The race started at 2pm so we thought we'd try to catch a 9:30am train get us there at a leisurely time of 12pm, allowing us some time to explore before the race started... Well! All the trains were fully booked meaning we had to catch a later one at 10:30am.

Once we arrived at Shiroko at 12:30pm, it was F1 fan central! Lines as long as the eye could see. At this point we made the best call possible which was to pre purchase our train ticket back to Osaka. All but two were sold out, so if we had waited any longer, we may not have had a way to get back home!

At Shiroko, we asked a conductor how long it would take to wait in this line for the bus to take us to Suzuka Circuit - apparently 2 hours! At this point it was 12:30pm, so waiting in line for the bus would have definitely made us late for the race.

Ok, Plan B was to walk. The walk was 1hr 15mins, so in a perfect world, that would get us there just in time for the race. So off we went on our merry way down the yellow brick road towards Suzuka. We met a Dutch couple along the way who were nice to talk to as we walked (although they supported Red Bull 🤮). But soon into our trek, the hot sun was beating down and sweat beads were dripping in places that were not thought possible. We had to come up with another solution.

Here comes Frankie to the rescue. Frankie decided to start knocking on random Japanese people's car windows and ask them if they could give us a lift up the hill. On the third attempt, a lovely man agreed to take us up the hill to Suzuka. So here we are, four sweaty F1 fans and a Japanese man who hardly knew any English, driving the remainder of the way in beautiful air con. He was really nice, and we all chipped in some cash for his troubles.

When we arrived at Suzuka, we followed the lovely Dutch couple, because why not? They had been to the Circuit the day before, so surely they knew which way to go. Nope. They took us the wrong way, so all the time we had saved by hitchhiking was probably then lost again by walking away from the main gate rather than towards it.

We finally got into the park around 1:45pm and the hype started to build. Billboards with drivers' faces, announcements over the loud speakers, merch stores. We went to a few merch stores because we really wanted to secure some Mercedes and AlphaTauri gear. We actually missed the start of the race because of this, but weren't too fussed as the race was 2 hours long anyway. I got a Mercedes and AlphaTauri shirt and hat each. Unfortunately Franks missed out on any of the merch she was after.

Instead of going straight to our allocated area, we went to the Ferris wheel instead and did two back to back rides. It was actually a really awesome viewpoint, and was a really good decision in hindsight. Just a quiet booth looking over the whole track, and especially on the last corner before the home straight. I tried listening to some live commentary on my phone too, but the signal was weak so it was patchy.

Then we went to our allocated area to watch the race, but it was quite hard to see. We got there later than everyone so there weren't many good viewing spots left. But we paid for the cheapest seats so that was to be expected.

The cars are just insane. They go so fast, but even maybe more impressive is how quick they decelerate before the next corner. I can't imagine the force that would be on their heads and necks as they go around the corners.

We decided to leave the circuit about 20 mins before the race ended. We didn't want to end up in a 2hr long wait like at Shiroko Station. So we only had to wait about 5 mins this time for a bus back to Shiroko, then we had already purchased our ticket back to Osaka. A cruisey 2hr ride home back to Osaka... what a day!

So glad we got to come to this race. That's definitely a bucket list item ticked off. Was so cool seeing the actual drivers in their cars. Lawson, Tsunoda, Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Russel, Albon, Alonso, Piastri, Norris. And so great to see Liam Lawson do well today! Just out of the points, but great race which hopefully gets him a seat for next year! Spoiler alert, Max won.Read more