Nico Hulkenberg described his Japanese Grand Prix as “mostly boring” and believes the new track surface at Suzuka was responsible.
The Sauber driver started and finished 16th. There were few significant changes of position during the race: the top six finishers all took the chequered flag in grid order.Much of the first third of the Suzuka track was resurfaced prior to this weekend’s race. The new asphalt from turns one to eight (Degner One) covered most of the corners where cars sustain high speeds for long periods, incurring the most tyre degradation.
As a result, drivers only needed to make a single pit stop to complete the race, compared to one last year. Hulkenberg believes that was the difference that made for a processional race.
“The new Tarmac is nice and grippy and quick and all that, but the low deg just makes for very static racing,” he told the official F1 channel. “The speeds are kind of too high and the dirty air effect gets worse and worse, obviously.”
He spent much of his race stuck behind Jack Doohan’s Alpine. “It was difficult to do anything out there, so quite a static race,” he said. “I spent all my race in traffic, which is not that fun around here. It was a difficult afternoon.”
Hulkenberg was not the only driver who experienced an unexciting race. Charles Leclerc called his race “very boring.” Alexander Albon, who started and finished ninth, said it was “quite a boring race, but I like boring races when we are in the points.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
George Russell believes softer tyres would have made for a more interesting race and said F1’s official tyre supplier Pirelli should react for upcoming races.
“It just seemed like everybody finished where they started,” he said. “It was very difficult to overtake.
“The tyres are way too hard for the new smooth Tarmac. That was the same in China with the new Tarmac, the tyres were too hard and it was an easy one-stop.
“So I hope Pirelli reacts quick. I know it’s difficult to change tyre compounds but for any upcoming races with the smooth Tarmacs I think we need to go at least one step softer to promote some better racing and strategy.
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2025 Japanese Grand Prix
- McLaren has to accept upsetting either of its drivers sometimes – Stella
- Verstappen ‘can test our car, I look forward to seeing his disappointment’ – Norris
- Verstappen insists McLaren domination claim was ‘no joke’ after Piastri’s doubt
- Extra mandatory pit stop won’t create more passing at tracks like Suzuka – Sainz
- Mercedes took note of Verstappen’s out-lap tactics after stunning Suzuka pole position
Jere (@jerejj)
6th April 2025, 10:29
The partly resurfaced tarmac may have played a part, but ultimately the Suzuka circuit is still a relatively bad for racing in dry conditions as a whole.
Wer
6th April 2025, 16:04
Tracks are not bad for racing. Formula 1 cars are. They are terrible.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
6th April 2025, 11:00
By the halfway mark I was hoping for more of the random fires to break out again.
Funny how people moan about Monaco but rave about Suzuka.
Edvaldo
6th April 2025, 15:41
These days, they’re equally boring. The last entertaining race i remember in Suzuka was 2014, and for obvious reasons, we won’t have them racing on those conditions there anymore.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
6th April 2025, 11:24
It just felt like the tyres were far too conservative this weekend – whilst at the same time needed a lot of management.
Maybe they need to put the DRS detection point before 130R so that drivers are more willing to try something into the chicane without being at risk of instantly losing it to DRS down the main straight. Or is the detection point not actually that close to the chicane anyway? I know it’s before, just not how long before!
Imre (@f1mre)
6th April 2025, 13:20
It was right after 130R.
MichaelN
6th April 2025, 11:24
Low degradation isn’t a problem when you have tyres that can be pushed.
The real problem is the Pirelli tyres. Their ridiculous sensitivity to minute temperature changes is straight up awful, and unworthy of the FIA’s premier series.
dex022 (@dex022)
6th April 2025, 11:46
This 100%.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
6th April 2025, 12:48
It seems the drivers were going flat-out all the time. The frontrunners were doing 1:33s at the beginning of the race, some 6-7 seconds slower than their qualifying times, but on full tanks, harder tires, without the help of DRS and whilst recharging their batteries. Tire management wasn’t really a thing this race.
BasCB (@bascb)
6th April 2025, 19:42
Exactly. Now I get that often in recent years we’ve seen tyre management being a bit of a bore. But here, it was exactly the opposite. Everyone was able to push without losing their tyres so they were more or less on equal footing mostly unable to pass each other.
anon
6th April 2025, 20:33
@bascb it does seem that, to some extent, whomever the tyre manufacturer is, they will be told that they are doing things wrong.
If the tyres are seen as degrading too quickly, then there are complaints that the drivers don’t push and they are ruining the race. However, if we have the opposite situation, where there is no significant degradation in performance, then we get complaints that the teams resort to conservative strategies that prioritise maintaining track position and that the drivers end up too far apart for there to be any significant action on track.
Coventry Climax
8th April 2025, 9:25
Flat out all the time?
Some 20 laps in, someones boardradio: “You can start to push now”.
Some 20 laps before the end: “You can push now”.
Out of 53 laps that’s some 30+ laps where they did not push; more than half the race.
And that’s without even discussing what their definition of ‘to push’ actually is, or what level of ‘pushing’ was actually executed. It’s not racing anymore.
Bocky
6th April 2025, 15:12
You couldn’t have said it better. And it’s been going on for 15 years!
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
6th April 2025, 19:02
Suzuka is alas like watching a jazz ensemble, where the 9 people on stage are enjoying themselves more than the 5 people watching
SteveP
7th April 2025, 8:48
I get that picture, but I think most of the ensemble on track were bored too.
However, they had the compensation of driving fast to stave off what our household labelled “a bore-fest”
Coventry Climax
8th April 2025, 9:41
@tonymansell
I know it was meant as a joke, but it’s in bad taste.
From it, it’s quite obvious you have no idea what jazz is.
There’s more types of jazz than there are of any other kind of music, yet you apparently think they’re all the same.
As all modern western music widely has it’s roots in jazz and blues, I could even argue you don’t have a clue as to what the entire concept of same, modern western music, actually is. Pity. You’re missing out on a huge chunk of culture.
They say F1 gets better if you put in some effort to understand, and your opinion isn’t really valid untill then.
Eye-opener for you: It’s the same with music. Or any art, for that matter.
Don’t judge if you have no clue.
David B
7th April 2025, 1:16
I didn’t think we could get a more boring race after China. I was wrong.
Hotwheels
8th April 2025, 4:17
F1’s got six tyre compounds (C0–C5), but they keep picking three in a row every weekend (like C2/C3/C4). That’s boring. The differences are tiny, and teams just go with the obvious strategy.
Here’s a simple fix:
Stop picking three in a row. Mix it up. Try combos like:
• C1 / C3 / C5
• C2 / C4 / C6
You instantly get bigger performance gaps and real strategy variety — all without developing new tyres. It’d force teams to actually think about setup and tyre choice instead of following the same playbook.
F1 needs more unpredictability, more bold strategy moves.