The early verdict on Super Formula's new tyres and format

A more detailed look at how Yokohama tyres and changes to weekend format have impacted Super Formula after this month's Suzuka opener... (Photos: JRP, Honda)

Earlier this month, Super Formula delivered a pair of entertaining races at Suzuka to kick off the 2025 season. These marked the first real acid test for the new Yokohama tyres featuring more renewable materials, as well as the change to the weekend format that had created so much intrigue — and worry — heading into the weekend.

Dandelion Racing’s Tadasuke Makino’s prediction of 10 to 15 drivers heading into the pits at the end of lap one on Sunday’s race, the first with no pit window since 2019, were echoed by several others that I spoke to in the run-up to the race. But in the end, there was enough strategic variation to keep things interesting, with only five drivers coming in on lap one, and a further three on the second lap.

That created a more-or-less even split between a group of early stoppers and late stoppers, which has become the familiar pattern ever since the lap 10 minimum (which remains in place for Saturday races) was imposed. And although there wasn’t a great deal of degradation with the new 46% renewable Yokohama slick, there was at least enough of a time differential between those on new and used tyres in the closing stages to provide the kind of overtaking chances fans have come to expect.

In summary, it was a reasonably good start for Super Formula’s brave new world. But does this mean that other races will follow the same pattern, or is there reason to believe that Suzuka will prove to be an outlier as the season develops?