Japanese Grand Prix Winners Since 2000: Every Race
Guides
Every Japanese Grand Prix winner since 2000, measured: a pole-sitter's circuit, and Raikkonen's win from seventeenth
Twenty-five Japanese Grands Prix have been held since 2000, all at Suzuka except two at Fuji. Pole won seventeen, Max Verstappen won four in a row from 2022, and Kimi Raikkonen won from seventeenth in 2005 with a last-lap pass. Every winner, grid slot and safety car, measured.
Seventeen of the twenty-five Japanese Grands Prix since 2000 were won from pole. The most famous of the other eight was won from seventeenth, on the last lap.
Suzuka rewards the driver who starts in front more than almost any circuit in our race-history series: only Abu Dhabi, at twelve of seventeen, and Zandvoort's short modern run have a higher rate. Max Verstappen won four in a row from pole, from 2022 to 2025, and Kimi Antonelli did the same in 2026. Lewis Hamilton has won five, more than anyone since 2000. And in 2005 Kimi Raikkonen started seventeenth and passed Giancarlo Fisichella for the lead on the final lap, one of the great drives of the modern era. The race ran at Fuji instead of Suzuka in 2007 and 2008.
Every radio message from the recent races is in our Japanese Grand Prix radio archive, with the audio and a transcript coloured by who is speaking. Verstappen's 2025 win, below, is all here.
Every winner since 2000
The first thirteen:
Year
Winner
Team
Started
2000
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
Pole
2001
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
Pole
2002
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
Pole
2003
Rubens Barrichello
Ferrari
Pole
2004
Michael Schumacher
Ferrari
Pole
2005
Kimi Raikkonen
McLaren
17th
2006
Fernando Alonso
Renault
5th
2007
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
Pole
2008
Fernando Alonso
Renault
4th
2009
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
Pole
2010
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
Pole
2011
Jenson Button
McLaren
2nd
2012
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
Pole
The 2007 and 2008 races were held at Fuji Speedway.
The last twelve:
Year
Winner
Team
Started
2013
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
2nd
2014
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
2nd
2015
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
2nd
2016
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
Pole
2017
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
Pole
2018
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
Pole
2019
Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
3rd
2022
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
Pole
2023
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
Pole
2024
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
Pole
2025
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
Pole
2026
Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
Pole
No race was held in 2020 or 2021.
The numbers
17 of 25 races won from pole, including the last five.
Most wins since 2000: Hamilton 5 (2007, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018), then Michael Schumacher 4, Vettel 4 and Verstappen 4.
Lowest winning grid slot: 17th, Raikkonen in 2005. The next lowest is fifth, Alonso in 2006.
Every car finished in 2016 and 2025.
Red flags in 2022 and 2024, each in the first laps.
The safety cars
Year
Safety cars
Virtual safety cars
Red flag
2018
1
1
No
2019
0
0
No
2022
1
0
Yes
2023
1
1
No
2024
0
0
Yes
2025
0
0
No
2026
1
0
No
Counted from race control messages, which exist from 2018.
2005: Raikkonen from seventeenth
Rain in qualifying left Kimi Raikkonen seventeenth on the grid and Fernando Alonso sixteenth. Raikkonen worked his way through the field in his McLaren and, on the final lap, passed Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault around the outside into the first corner to take the lead and the win. Fisichella was second and Alonso, from sixteenth, third.
2014
The 2014 race, run in heavy rain from a typhoon, is remembered for Jules Bianchi's crash near the end. He suffered severe head injuries and died in July 2015. Lewis Hamilton was the winner that day. The accident led to the virtual safety car, introduced for 2015, and was part of the case for the halo, which is explained in the F1 halo explained.
2022 to 2026: pole every time
In 2022 Verstappen won a rain-shortened race that was red-flagged on lap 2, and was confirmed as champion afterwards when full points were awarded despite the reduced distance. He won from pole again in 2023, 2024 and 2025. In 2025, holding off both McLarens, his engineer told him at the flag:
"That's perfection. Just perfection, Max." Kimi Antonelli continued the run in 2026, from pole, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc. The radio from that race is not in our archive: coverage of 2026 starts at the Canadian Grand Prix. Antonelli's season is measured in Kimi Antonelli's 2026, and Verstappen's in Max Verstappen's 2026.
Every radio message quoted: our own team radio archive
Follow every race live
At Suzuka the race is usually settled on Saturday, and the radio tells you whether anyone can undo it.
The Formula Dream app plays live driver radio as it is broadcast, transcript beside the audio, and collects every FIA document of the weekend as it is published. There is also a live timing Dashboard, currently in beta.
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Twenty-five Australian Grands Prix have been held at Albert Park since 2000. Lewis Hamilton took pole eight times and won twice, David Coulthard won from eleventh, and the 2023 race was stopped three times. Every winner, grid slot, safety car and red flag, measured.
Max VerstappenRed Bull · Japanese Grand Prix 2025 · Race · 15:27:35 local
EngineerThat's perfection. Just perfection, Max. Fantastic.
DriverWow. Thank you, guys. Wow. Oh, mate, what an unbelievable weekend. What a great turnaround after the difficult start. You see, we never give up. We keep pushing together. Well done, everyone.
EngineerMax, that was one of your finest weekends. That was a truly inspirational performance. So, as you say, never, ever give up. All the play for. Well done, mate.
DriverExactly that. We keep pushing. Yeah, unbelievable. What a great, great weekend for us.
