From a teams and drivers’ perspective, the Japanese Grand Prix is one of the biggest challenges of all 17 races on this year’s agenda with the track layout offering everything from the ultra-fast 130R corner to a slow hairpin.

With two race wins and 45 points from the last five races, the final one being last Sunday in Singapore when Lewis Hamilton dominated from flag to flag, McLaren have continued their upwards trend. However, that said, the Woking based squad are not convinced that they will be among the favourites for victory at Suzuka;, but that doesn’t mean they are not all working hard to conclude the season with further good results in the three remaining events.

For Lewis, his second win of the season was especially sweet but the challenge of racing at Suzuka has an even stronger pull as it is one track he has always admired, but never had the opportunity to actually race on....

“It feels like I’ve been waiting my whole life to race at Suzuka – so, as you can imagine, I’ll be really excited when practice starts there on Friday morning. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve raced Suzuka on computer games – and while it kind of gives you an idea of how the circuit goes, nothing can beat the real thing,” he said.

“It looks like a real driver’s circuit – the first sector esses look very demanding and the higher speed corners towards the end of the lap will probably require real precision and a good car set-up. I’m also really looking forward to returning to Japan – it’s one of my favourite countries and I love racing in front of the Japanese fans. It should be a great weekend.”