Motorsports・Sports
Sparking a New F1 Wave in Japan - An Interview with Tsuyoshi Saito, Honda Mobilityland President
POINTWhat you can learn from this article
- F1 is growing in popularity around the world, and more cities are striving to host F1 races.
- Honda is taking initiatives to increase F1 fans in Japan to continue hosting the F1 Japanese GP. The events held this spring as part of these efforts attracted 33,000 visitors.
- F1 is also in the spotlight as a venue of business, and Honda Mobilityland, which operates the Suzuka Circuit, has launched initiatives from a business perspective.
On April 6, 2025, the F1 Japanese Grand Prix was held at the Suzuka Circuit. Leading up to and during the race, events were held in Tokyo, generating a great deal of excitement. This issue of Honda Stories shares an interview with Tsuyoshi Saito, President of Honda Mobilityland Corporation, regarding Honda’s efforts to expand connections between F1 and the Japanese public, and to grow the number of F1 sponsors.
President, Honda Mobilityland Corporation View More Close Tsuyoshi Saito
Joined Honda in 1988. After serving as head of the Corporate Governance Supervisory Unit, he moved to his current post of Honda Mobilityland Corporation President in 2023.
CloseExpanding connections with F1 by holding combined events with music and gourmet food in Tokyo
In addition to public viewing of the race and car exhibits, gourmet food and music events were held in Odaiba
A special talk show was held on April 2 with F1 drivers on stage
The F1 Japanese GP recently held at Suzuka Circuit was a huge success, attracting 266,000 visitors. This year was also impressive in that a combined music and gourmet food event was held in Odaiba, over four days from April 2, to coincide with the Japanese GP.
Visitors tested their skills at changing tires in the Pit Stop Challenge
“Red Bull Showrun x Powered by Honda,” a F1 car showrun event, was held on April 2. There was a lot of enthusiasm, especially as F1 cars drove on public roads in Tokyo, and Yuki Tsunoda had just moved up to Oracle Red Bull Racing.
F1 cars drove on public roads at the “Red Bull Showrun x Powered by Honda” event
This demonstration run event was organized by the Executive Committee for the F1 International Top Motorsport Experience Project, with support from Honda and Red Bull Japan. The Red Bull Showrun featuring an F1 car was held for the first time in six years since 2019.
I believe visitors were able to experience up close the speed, sound, and power of F1 cars on public roads, driven by four-time consecutive world champion Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda from Oracle Red Bull Racing, and Liam Lawson and Isaac Hadjar from Visa Cash App Racing Bulls.
In addition to the F1 cars, Liam Lawson and Isaac Hadjar drove the PRELUDE prototype, while Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen drove the Honda 0 SUV prototype.
Honda has taken various initiatives to manage the race and satisfy Suzuka Circuit visitors, and will continue its efforts and demonstrate strong collaboration to make F1 more appealing to everyone, including people who cannot come to Suzuka.
The showrun was part of these efforts, and we would like to continue to expand exposure of the F1 Japanese GP outside of the circuit, mainly in Tokyo.
F1 drivers at the wheel of the Honda 0 SUV prototype (left) and PRELUDE prototype (right) during the parade run
As I mentioned, Honda is strengthening its efforts to make the appeal of F1 more widely known. One of the initiatives we are most focused on is the F1 Tokyo Festival, which started two years ago, featuring F1 driver talk shows and F1 car exhibits in Shinjuku Kabukicho in 2023 and in Roppongi Hills in 2024. Furthermore, in November 2024, with Kabuki actor Danjuro Ichikawa as the official Japanese GP ambassador, we held a public viewing of the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix and an F1 car exhibit at the Kabuki-za Theater in Tokyo.
Is F1 no longer popular in Japan? F1 is rising in popularity worldwide
What is the F1 Japanese GP, for people who are not familiar with F1?
F1 boasts a 75-year history as the world’s premier automobile racing category. 6.5 million people a year watch F1 grands prix at circuits around the world, and with more than 700 million F1 fans worldwide, F1 is one of the world’s leading forms of sports entertainment. The first F1 Japanese GP was held at Suzuka Circuit in 1987, and this year marks the 35th running of the event. This year’s attendance was 266,000, up 16% from last year, and the largest attendance since 2009, when the F1 Japanese GP resumed at Suzuka Circuit. The cumulative number of visitors to date is more than 8.9 million.
The 2025 F1 Japanese GP race start
In the long history of F1, the Japanese F1 boom in the 1990s was tremendous.
Indeed. The F1 boom in the 1990s, triggered by race broadcasts and F1 drivers appearing in variety shows on TV brought F1 to the attention of the Japanese in a big way. Many will remember the names of drivers such as Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, who sparked a huge movement.
Perhaps because of this, F1 is seen as a phenomenon of the past in Japan, but in recent years, F1’s popularity has increased dramatically worldwide, with the number of visitors from overseas rising from 50,000 last year to 80,000 in 2025.
In recent years, the popularity of Yuki Tsunoda, supported by Honda, has been increasing.
Tsunoda has more than 3 million followers on Instagram [as of April 2025]. That’s the second most followers among Japanese athletes, behind baseball star Shohei Ohtani.
The F1 scene is once again gaining momentum in Japan. What are the current issues?
Honda Mobilityland’s mission is to foster a culture of mobility and promote and expand motorsports. But, as mentioned before, F1 is seen as a phenomenon of the past. So, the entire Honda group is promoting various approaches to convey the appeal of F1 to more customers and companies, including the younger generation who are not familiar with F1.
The first F1 Japanese GP business conference was held on April 4.
F1 Japanese GP business conference
Yes, F1 is in fact increasing its presence as a business venue worldwide. In order to convey the appeal of F1 to companies in Japan and encourage them to view the F1 Japanese GP as a business opportunity, we held our first F1 Japan GP business conference coinciding with the F1 Japan GP. More than 130 people from 70 companies attended the conference, with experts talking about how F1 has grown globally, what kind of business investments have global companies made, and what the possibilities are for business collaboration using the F1 Japanese GP and Suzuka Circuit.
What is your message to F1 fans?
Suzuka Circuit is Honda’s home circuit. In order to continue holding the F1 Japanese GP here for many years to come, we will continue, with the help of not only the F1 fans who have supported us, but also future F1 fans, and the companies who work with us to make the Japanese GP exciting, to maximize the appeal and value of F1 and accelerate our efforts for the next generation.
Thank you very much.
The "F1 TOKYO FAN FESTIVAL" was held in Odaiba to bring F1 to people who could not make it to Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture. This event was co-hosted by Honda and Honda Mobilityland. In addition to the F1 public viewing, the event combined music and gourmet food to create an atmosphere that even families and people unfamiliar with F1 could enjoy, across three zones: F1 VILLAGE ZONE, WORLD FOOD CIRCUIT ZONE, and TWILIGHT MUSIC ZONE.
In the F1 VILLAGE ZONE, F1 cars were exhibited, and visitors could experience F1 through simulators and the Pit Stop Challenge, which tasked visitors with changing tires as quickly as they could.
The WORLD FOOD CIRCUIT ZONE offered gourmet foods from various F1 host countries, and the TWILIGHT MUSIC ZONE treated visitors with live music featuring artists from a wide range of genres.