Carlos Sainz is the hottest commodity who is off contract at the end of 2024, with speculation rife about where he will drive next season.
Meanwhile, Japan salutes one of their own completing a 12-year first.
Here are five key moments from the Japanese Grand Prix.
1. Sainz continues his audition for 2025
Carlos Sainz came into the 2024 season being told it would be his last at Ferrari — making way for Lewis Hamilton in 2025.
Since then, the Spaniard has been magnificent, claiming a pair of third places and winning the Australian Grand Prix.
His win in Melbourne came barely two weeks after he had surgery to remove his appendix, ruling him out of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.
Sainz has finished ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc in every race he has started in 2024, and is the only non-Red Bull driver to win a grand prix since the penultimate race of the 2022 season.
The Spaniard had to work for his podium finish in Japan, needing to overtake McLaren’s Lando Norris and his teammate Leclerc late in the race.
Sainz’s excellent start to the year is proving to be the perfect audition for potential new employers, with many in F1 speculating where the Spaniard will sit in 2025.
“Unfortunately, I have no clue where I am going to be next year,” he told Sky Sports.
“It is true that we are talking to many teams.
“I just need to keep focused on what I am doing and prove to myself, prove to everyone, that when I am given a fast car I maximise what I am given.”
2. Rumour mill into overdrive as Sainz and Marko meet
The news cycle of F1 is often fuelled by rumour and speculation.
With several drivers off contract at the end of this season, speculation can often dominate conversation around the F1 paddock.
Carlos Sainz is front and centre of that speculation, after his brilliant start to 2024.
So when he was photographed in conversation with Red Bull Racing’s consultant Helmut Marko in Japan, it raised plenty of eyebrows.
Red Bull has not finalised their driver line-up for 2025, with Mexican star Sergio Perez’s contract ending this year.
Speculation has been rife during this season about whether Red Bull will resign Perez or look to another driver — including Sainz.
Media was quick to highlight the meeting between Sainz and Marko during the weekend, wondering if this is a sign that Red Bull is interested in the Spaniard.
The pair have a relationship, with Sainz being part of the Red Bull program when he was a driver for Torro Rosso (now RB), and a teammate of Max Verstappen.
So the meeting could be friends who crossed paths in an F1 paddock. But the very public meeting between the two will add to the speculation that Perez’s days at Red Bull may be numbered.
3. Mercedes change strategy at the last moment
Mercedes tried something different in Suzuka on Sunday, but it proved to be the wrong call.
As the cars came back to the pits following the lap one crash that stopped the race, Mercedes’ pit wall elected to put both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell on hard tyres, while all but one of their rivals in the top-10 were on the medium compound.
Mercedes tried to make one pit stop work, which ultimately proved to be the slowest strategy, with only Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc successfully executing the game plan but using a different tyre compound combination.
With Mercedes staring down the barrel of finishing eighth and ninth, Lewis Hamilton demanded the team pit again for fresher, faster tyres, to try and chase down Fernando Alonso in sixth and Australian Oscar Piastri in seventh.
Russell was able to catch the duo and overtake Piastri on the final lap of the race, with the Australian making a mistake in the penultimate lap which cost him time and allowed the Mercedes driver to pass him.
4. Yuki Tsunoda scores a point for Japan
Japan consistently has some of Formula 1’s most passionate fans, with the costumes and signs in the crowd adding to the atmosphere of one of the sport’s best weekends.
Something that has often been missing for the thousands who flood through the gates at Suzuka is a native driver scoring points.
Heading into Sunday’s race there was plenty of optimism for RB driver Yuki Tsunoda to finish in the top-10.
The Japanese-born driver did not disappoint his fans, coming out on top of a brilliant mid-field battle to claim 10th and score one world championship point.
Kamui Kobayashi was the last Japanese driver to score points at their home grand prix, guiding his Sauber to third in 2012.
5. Verstappen joins the 3,000 lap club
Max Verstappen’s list of accomplishments seems to grow by the week.
The Dutchman won his third straight Japanese Grand Prix from pole position, becoming the first driver since Michael Schumacher to complete the three-peat around Suzuka.
He now has 57 grand prix wins, third on the all-time list.
During Sunday’s race, Verstappen passed 3,000 laps led in his F1 career.
He joins an exclusive list of drivers who have managed that feat: Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen is roughly 500 laps away from supassing Vettel, while Hamilton and Schumacher lead more than 5,000 laps in their careers.
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