Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri urged to work together before competing for title - Max Verstappen finished ahead of the McLaren pair in Japan.

Norris was unable to get close enough to Verstappen during a race which saw precious little overtaking action, with Piastri pushing his McLaren team-mate in the closing stages. The Australian told his team he believed he could threaten Verstappen but McLaren did not initiate a switch.

Helmut Marko has done a lot of talking in the last week. Red Bull’s octogenarian motorsport adviser has been busy doing the rounds, on the radio and in the papers, defending the team’s decision to jettison Liam Lawson after just two races and bring in Yuki Tsunoda.