What Is the Weather Forecast for the 2026 Japanese GP?

Suzuka poses a stern test to a driver in any weather condition, its high-speed nature a force to be reckoned with in the dry and the wet.

The Japanese Grand Prix has held a slot at both ends of the F1 calendar but remains one of the cooler races teams visit through the course of a season - an average historical air temperature of 15C and an average track temperature of 28C attest to that.

As recently as 2022 the race in Japan was severely disrupted by rain, and sessions through the weekend in previous years have witnessed adverse conditions.

Should the rain arrive during Sunday’s Grand Prix, then it could be the first time that F1’s new 2026 regulations have raced with ‘low grip mode’.

The scaled-back version of ‘Straight Mode’, designed to allow drivers to safely navigate a slicker track surface with all the benefits of the usual racing modes.

In this scenario, only the front wing will drop down into a low drag configuration, rather than both the front and rear wings.

Here’s what we can all expect from the Suzuka skies in 2026:

Friday:

Free Practice day will be cool and cloudy, with highs of about 20C and spells of sunshine.

Saturday:

The periods of sunshine will be longer on Saturday for FP3 and Qualifying, but the chance of rain has increased from Friday to 25%. If the rain does arrive over Suzuka, it is likely to be in the morning.

Sunday:

Race day in Japan will bring about the highest chance of rain of the whole weekend, up at around 55%.

What’s more, at present, that rain is set to fall in the afternoon, so there could well be some rain at play over the course of the 53 laps at Suzuka.

Temperatures will be up slightly at 21C, but its the skies where all the eyes will be come lights out on Sunday.