Talking points ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix

You weren't seeing things – that really was a driver not wearing Red Bull Racing overalls on the top step of the podium at last weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, which sets up an intriguing back-to-back with Suzuka and the Formula 1® Japanese Grand Prix this weekend (September 22-24).

Carlos Sainz's win for Ferrari was another sign that the Scuderia's Spaniard is better than ever – we'll get to that – but the sight of anyone beating Red Bull in general and Max Verstappen in particular was jarring after the team (15 straight victories) and its two-time world champion driver (10) came to Marina Bay on historically-significant winning runs.

"A breath of fresh air" was how Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described a race where neither Verstappen nor Sergio Perez could even make the podium; what went unsaid was that it was likely an asterisk, with Suzuka's high-speed sweeps in stark contrast to Singapore's sweaty streets, a layout that's likely to sit nicely in Red Bull's wheelhouse.

Christian Horner's squad needs to score just one more point than Mercedes in Japan to secure a second straight constructors' championship and sixth teams' title in all; that's the first and most obvious talking point for the weekend ahead, but there's others for a race that sits in a very friendly timeslot for Aussie F1® fans with a 3pm Sunday start.

Sainz smart, not just smooth

It might have been Sainz's one questionable moment all weekend in Singapore, the Spaniard breaking into song with 'Smooth Operator' after he'd soaked up a mountain of pressure to take his second F1® win.

As a singer, Sainz makes a good driver … but as a thinker, the 29-year-old is up there with the very best there is. Singapore is always a tyre-torturing test of wits as much as it is speed, but the Ferrari man played it perfectly, teasing George Russell with his pace as he headed the Briton's Mercedes in the early stages, and deliberately allowing McLaren's Lando Norris to get back within his DRS in the latter stages so Norris could repel the closing Mercs of Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who were armed with 25-lap younger tyres but fell short of a win that looked likely.

Sainz has been around a long time these days – Singapore was his 177th Grand Prix start – but it's telling that he took all of two weeks to better his Italian Grand Prix pole and podium at Monza, arguably the best race of his career before Singapore.

He's never shown much form at Suzuka – fifth in 2019 is his best result so far – but Sainz has become Ferrari's most reliable source of points, and accumulates them in a style that's intelligently refreshing.

Lawson giving Red Bull a headache

Liam Lawson's job list was short; called in at the last minute at Zandvoort after Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand in Friday practice, the New Zealander was there to keep Ricciardo's AlphaTauri seat warm and get his F1® feet wet as he deputised for the Australian, who was just two weekends into his mid-season comeback.

Three races on, Lawson couldn’t have been more impressive – and has given Red Bull's brass plenty to think about. The 21-year-old knocked Verstappen out of Q3 in Singapore by 0.007secs last weekend and then finished ninth in Sunday's race, AlphaTauri's single-best race haul all season after teammate Yuki Tsunoda had scored all three of the team's other points with a trio of 10th-place results.

Ricciardo is likely to be back in Qatar, the race after Japan, but Lawson has already showed that he's too swift to be seen as a mere stop-gap. In a Red Bull stable that has sacked Nyck De Vries, isn't sure what it's getting from Tsunoda and has Sergio Perez underperforming relative to the strength of his machinery at the 'A-team', Lawson's future looks bright – if inconclusive at this stage.

Something else to consider for Suzuka this weekend? Lawson has already raced there this year in his Japanese Super Formula season, meaning he won’t be at the disadvantage he was in Zandvoort in particular and Singapore last weekend.

Time for Piastri to fly

Considering where Singapore started for Oscar Piastri – second-last on the grid after his qualifying was ruined by Lance Stroll crashing his Aston Martin ahead of the Australian and causing a red flag in Q1 – gaining 10 places and scoring six points for seventh was the perfect execution of a conservative strategy for a driver who, like Lawson, had never lapped Marina Bay before.

Piastri was always going to suffer relative to McLaren teammate Lando Norris in Singapore, with Norris getting exclusive use of the team's third and final upgrade package for the year, one which aimed to improve the car's performance in slow-speed corners and was estimated to be worth four-tenths of a second per lap.

That Norris finished eight-tenths of a second behind Sainz for the win – not to mention his own recovery to the points – left Piastri in a positive mood after Singapore, and while Suzuka's succession of rapid corners and few slow-speed turns of note may not sound like an ideal layout to debut a new aero package, McLaren has showed well at fast tracks all year, particularly Silverstone where Piastri qualified a season-best third and finished fourth.

With what will be the same car as Norris for the final seven races, the young Aussie has every reason to be optimistic that a maiden Grand Prix podium can be ticked off before the end of the season.

The Formula 1® Japanese Grand Prix 2023 will be available to watch live on Foxtel and Kayo. See our What time does the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix start in Australia article for timings.