Two prominent figureheads of F1’s travelling circus are conspicuously absent at Suzuka.
According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, the sport’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone - who turns 80 in three weeks - did not want to travel the 9,000 kilometres from Europe to Japan.
And team founder and boss Peter Sauber is not at Suzuka this weekend because he has accepted an invitation to attend a wedding.
The lucky groom is Carlos Slim Domit, the chairman of Sauber’s new major sponsor Telmex and heir to his father Carlos Slim Helu’s many billions.
43-year-old Slim Jr’s wedding is taking place in his native Mexico City.