F1 Notes: Four-time Champ Sebastian Vettel Returns to Suzuka to... Build Beehives?

Sebastian Vettel opened some insect hotels, and Japanese fans deliver once more.

Autoweek provides its Japanese GP paddock notebook.

Vettel’s Bee-autiful Insect Hotels

There was an unusual event on this past Thursday afternoon at Suzuka, Japan, as teams and drivers ventured down to the inside of Turn 2 to assist retired four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel with the launch of his "insect hotels."

Vettel has always had a soft spot for Japan, and his appearance in the paddock through the weekend was his first noted attendance at a Formula 1 race since his retirement at the end of the 2022 season, having made a fleeting but unpublicized visit to Monaco for a meeting.

Vettel has championed environmental causes in recent years, and has highlighted the world’s changing biodiversity. This past weekend, he helped to construct 11 insect hotels on the inside of Turn 2 with the assistance of a local craftsman. While the project is for all insects, bees were chosen as the primary cause because of their prominence, with the Turn 2 curbs painted yellow and black, and the insect hotels were also dressed in those colors.

Teams and drivers from rivals designed and painted their hotels, with some representatives more creative and humorous than others. All the while Vettel scurried around the area to provide assistance while explaining the methodology behind the hives.

Vettel also suggested that ‘Buzzin’ Corner’ could be installed at other circuits in the future. However, it was also noted that the trackside banner in front of Vettel’s new project was none other than, er, Aramco! Vettel spent time in the paddock through the weekend, catching up with old friends and colleagues, and also visited a local school to help teach the youngsters about his environmental project.

Suzuka Remains Majestic

Formula 1’s calendar continues to evolve, but a long-standing classic such as Suzuka remains absolutely majestic.

The drivers regard Suzuka as one of the greatest circuits, and it is among the few tracks that doesn’t have an average corner—the whole ribbon of tarmac flows and each section provides a stern challenge.

Watching trackside Suzuka provides a spectacular view of the fine margins that the drivers weave while in control of some of the most sophisticated race cars. It is a quirky venue because of its topography and consequent limitations, with one of the best vantage point—a hill which perches over the crossover point and provides a view of the fearsome Degner curves and the iconic 130R—navigable only via a thin strip of land known as "Spider Alley."

That’s because the grass and bushes are festooned with the striking black, yellow and red Joro spiders that inhabit the countryside (though are not usually harmful to people). In some places there is barely a 30-centimeter gap in which to walk—or, realistically, shuffle—between the crash barriers and the fences in order to reach those vantage points.

The journey also includes a section where you have to clamber over a tire barrier—which, technically, is on a live race track but on a part of the circuit where a car would (hopefully) never reach—in quite a graceless fashion. It is a complete contrast to some of the soulless and characterless venues that Formula 1 now visits.

Japanese Fans Impress Again

Formula 1 fans all over the world are passionate but that attachment reaches a new level of devotion in Japan. As every year, fans came dressed in elaborately creative gear, including homemade merchandise, DRS hats, and even race overalls.

There were a throng of Yuki Tsunodas, a Lewis Hamilton, a couple of Michael Schumachers, a handful of Ayrton Sennas, some Max Verstappens—even his father, Jos—and perhaps in a more left-field decision, someone even came dressed as Ukyo Katayama.

The spectators are always unfailingly polite and orderly, respectful of those around them, and some provide gifts to drivers and usually unheralded team members. Aston Martin received a handwritten letter of thanks from a fan relating to an opportune meet-and-greet at last year’s race, other teams were in receipt of biscuits and cookies—with Haas getting M&Ms with team members’ faces on the packets—while one journalist was given a Suzuka cutlery set as a thank you for their work.

This year also marked the return of each school being affiliated with a team—it wasn’t possible last season due to the pandemic—with children visiting the pit lane on Thursday and often handing over endearing drawings and messages of support.

The spectators line up alongside Suzuka’s access roads each morning and wave to anyone and everyone who enters the track, irrespective of status, applaud a driver’s first lap out of the pit lane during practice sessions, and it is impossible not to smile at the genial atmosphere that it fosters.

Suzuka also has the best merchandise shop of any circuit on the calendar, with a plethora of products available, most lovably "asphalt" cookies, "gravel trap" salts and dried squid mangled to look like discarded tire rubber.

Another journalist remains so enamoured by the place that their visit to the shop resulted in stick-on tattoos that they spent the remainder of the weekend sporting atop their forehead. Formula 1 has a fantastic fanbase across the world but in Japan it feels just an extra bit special.

Ricciardo Return Still in Doubt

Daniel Ricciardo will line up on the 2024 grid with AlphaTauri after last week’s confirmation of the squad’s driver pairing for next season. But his return to the 2023 season has not yet been determined as he continues to recover from his fractured hand.

Qatar had been earmarked as a potential ambition, but AlphaTauri hinted through the Japan weekend that there is no rush for Ricciardo to return and that the focus remains on the fracture being fully healed. Liam Lawson, who has now completed four races, will prepare for the race as normal.