Racing drivers aren’t a sentimental bunch, and when Carlos Sainz sniffed the chance of overtaking Pierre Gasly’s Honda-powered Toro Rosso with two laps of the Japanese Grand Prix to go – denying the Frenchman a solitary point in front of Honda’s top brass – he didn’t think twice. But Sainz’s P10 was more hard fought than it first appeared, as the Spaniard revealed after the race.

Renault spent the weekend being largely out-paced around the Suzuka track, with analysis of their long run pace from Friday clocking them at just 0.1s and 0.2s per lap faster than Williams and McLaren respectively, and exactly the same as Toro Rosso.

That was borne out in the race, with Sainz running in P11 and just behind the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly on lap 51 of 53 when he nipped past the Frenchman to claim the final points-paying position. It was a move the Spaniard relished – and all the more impressive given that Sainz was nursing a brake problem, as he revealed to the media afterwards.