So the F1 circus moves out of Europe for it's final tour. In a championship that has been unpredictable and had so many twists and turns, an added twist has been thrown into the equation with the introduction of a new circuit for the drivers to master - the Fuji Speedway in Japan. Fuji hasn't played host to an F1 race in 30 years, and the circuit has changed alot in that time. Gone is the fast sweeping corners and high-speed banked final turn, and in it's place is a track which has a Jeckyl and Hyde nature - the first half of the track is high speed with only one heavy braking area, while the second half is tight and twisty. And with unpredictable weather it could give us a shock result.

It was the turn of Ferrari last time out to be faster, with McLaren having had the upper hand a week before at Monza. It seems like they are taking turns on who will be the faster, and if this trent continues then Macca will have the upper hand. The spy scandal has overshadowed the great battle between the two teams and their respective drivers this year, but hopefully with an exciting end to the season the F1 fans will be talking more about the racing than the politics.

Behind those two will probably be BMW Sauber. With McLaren having been removed from the constructor's championship, they will finish an impressive second in the standings proving what a great job they have done this year. Team boss Mario Thiessen announced this week that the team will now switch their focus to next year's car with nothing to play for this season, which should give them a huge advantage over even the likes of McLaren and Ferrari. Renault come next and it's hard to see them beating the top 3, but with Kovalainen having scored in the last 6 races expect them to take a few points again this time.

As for the Japanese team, this is Toyota's home race having bought the track in 1999. Their drivers are the only ones who have sampled the circuit in an F1 car, although not at full racing speeds. They were on pole in 2005 and monopolized the third row last year during qualifying but failed to turn these into decent point-scoring races, although at Suzuka, and will be pushing hard for a similar result but with a better race result. As for the two Honda teams, Aguri lead their senior team by 7 points to 4, but accusations of Honda supplying Aguri with old wing configurations at recent races have affected Aguri's progress. But with new sponsors announced for this race providing much-needed funds, Aguri should begin to make progress. As for Honda, they tested a new chassis set-up at Jerez last week but it doesn't seem to have done the trick, and they could struggle.

So it has all the ingrediants for a great race. A four-way battle for the championship could be mathmatically reduced to three should Massa either fail to score or finish behind Hamilton, and then the big question will be whether Ferrari will use him to help Raikkonen win the title. And with a new track for the teams to learn and the possibility of rain, a repeat of the Nurburgring could be on the cards.