Going into this weekend’s race at the historic Suzuka circuit, which has been the scene of the title decider 11 times since the current layout first featured on the calendar in 1987, the reigning world champion leads his closest title rival Fernando Alonso by 77 points with five races to go and will be world champion on Sunday provided he wins and Alonso finishes no higher than ninth.

Fernando Alonso with his girlfriend Dasha Kapustina