Max Verstappen leads the driver's championship with 51 points despite a surprise mechanical retirement at the Australian Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc trails behind him with 47, separating the Ferrari driver from the triple World Champion by four points after claiming second place in his previous outing.
Sargeant's woes continue
Logan Sargeant's misfortunes were continued in Free Practice 1 as he crashed his Williams into the barriers at turn seven to bring out a red flag.
The American driver in his second year of F1 was forced to sit out of round three in Australia after his teammate took his car.
Alex Albon crashed heavily during Free Practice 1 so, with no spare chassis, the team decided to give Sargeant's car to Albon.
Albon was unable to score any points in the donated chassis, narrowly missing out in 11th position.
Sargeant is using Albon's crashed chassis until the team can get a spare one at round six in Miami.
His crash in Free Practice will not have done him any favours in the patched-together frame, already forcing him to sit out of FP2 as the team worked on repairs.
Mercedes hopes to end bad luck
After taking home zero points in their outing in Melbourne, Mercedes will be hoping for a stroke of luck this weekend.
Lewis Hamilton retired on lap 17 of the team's Australian outing with his engine failing.
Ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, Mercedes confirmed that the engine cannot be repaired and has been removed from Hamilton's allocation pool.
This means it is highly likely he will have to take a grid-drop penalty further into the season in order to take on an extra power unit.
George Russell crashed on the final lap of the Australian Grand Prix, leaving his Mercedes stranded across the track on its side.
He was on target to bring home six points for the German outfit but found the barriers at turn six while chasing the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
Team Principle, Toto Wolff has come along with the team to Japan despite plans to sit out for the fourth round as a result of the team's misfortunes this season.
Ferrari on top form
On the other hand, Ferrari enters the fourth championship round on a high after a healing Carlos Sainz took his third career win in the previous round.
The Spaniard had surgery to remove his appendix during the Saudi Arabain Grand Prix weekend, returning just two weeks later to stand on the top step of the podium.
Sainz is yet to confirm a place on next year's grid after it was confirmed that Hamilton will take his place at Ferrari alongside Leclerc in 2025.
Upgrades galore
Multiple teams have appeared with various upgrades this weekend.
Some aim to tackle the track-specific challenges of the Suzuka circuit, others to develop cars long-term.
Red Bull has updated their sidepod inlets, floor body, and floor edge.
As well, they have brought new ducts for the front brakes with smaller inlets and exits to accommodate the low braking demands of the track.
Ferrari has a track-specific rear wing package with a higher downforce design.
McLaren has made a similar change to Red Bull with lower-cooling front brake ducts to aid aerodynamic performance for this track only.
Aston Martin was seen giving their aero rakes an outing during FP1 as they tested out their various new upgrades.
The British team has brought a new floor body, floor fences, and diffuser, all of which have been updated to better cope with local loads on the car.
Alpine has non-track-specific upgrades to its front corner, front wing, and beam wing, all updated to provide better aerodynamic flow and reduce drag.
Williams, like Ferrari, also has a new rear wing and beam wing.
The upgrade is specific to the Suzuka layout to allow for a drop in downforce and drag to efficiently reduce the load on the rear wing assembly.
RB has tweaked their floor body and floor edge to try and find more performance and increase the load of the underfloor.
Sauber has also brought updates to their floor body, however, rather than making changes to deal with local loads the upgrade aims to help with the car's aerodynamic efficiency.
Mercedes and Haas are the only teams to opt to bring no upgrades to the fourth championship round.