Hello and welcome to ESPN's coverage of third and final practice of the weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. And today has started with a bang....
So after months and months of rumour and counter-rumour the picture of 2015 is finally becoming clear.
Christian Horner has confirmed Vettel will indeed be joining Ferrari.
Meaning the smart money is on Alonso going to McLaren - which leaves either Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen''s F1 future hanging in the balance.
What a start to this morning's action though. The hour-long FP3 session seems like a bit of an afterthought now, but we will power through it as usual. Would love to hear from your opinions on F1's latest news.
@Chuck: Still expecting heavy rain. There should be a decision made later today on whether the race is brought forward.
@Heath: Looks fine. Held his hands up and admitted a mistake, so now ironically he will need to draw on Vettel's data from Friday.
@Riversideturn6: Definitely. Alonso taking a huge gamble going for Ferrari.
@Chuck: Stay at Ferrari with Vettel!
@Heath: That's a really interesting question and one I was thinking about too. Surely now it makes sense for them to do that. I'm sure that's one question Horner will be asked for the rest of the weekend, especially if Ricciardo finishes strongly here.
Shocking news really is the best way to describe it. It's the biggest "wow" moment I can remember in a long time.
Vettel at Ferrari makes sense for so many reasons. Red Bull is unravelling around him - or at least the Red Bull team he's been successful with. Now he has the chance to prove he's one of the greats by following in Michael Schumacher's footsteps.
The clock is ticking and this session is underway.
@Riversideturn6: I would say Magnussen. Button, though experienced and with his Honda relationship, does not have much of a "shelf life". Magnussen has proved this year he has a future in F1 and could learn alongside Alonso.
@RohanMehta: That's certainly what I think is going to happen but we don't know. For all we know, Alonso has missed the opportunity to go to McLaren as he was also coveting a seat at Red Bull.
Drivers are completing their installation laps but we still haven't seen Vettel emerge from the garage. He's getting ready to, though. Some fascinating images of him a minute ago laughing and joking with Dr Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, who both only found out last night.
@PapaTheus: That and a lot of things. There's a lot of change at Red Bull at the moment and it's not hard to imagine why his motivation has waned over the last few seasons. A new challenge will do him good.
Rosberg and Hamilton are out on track for their own installation laps.
That's an incredible driver line-up. Can you imagine if McLaren made that announcement? I think that would be more shocking than this news.
Gutierrez has a big moment at 130R, kicking up a cloud of dust and somehow avoiding the barrier. Could have been a nasty incident after his crash yesterday.
@RohanMehta: I wasn't saying that, I'm just saying we shouldn't assume it means Alonso is going there - though it seems highly likely that is the case. But his Ferrari contract is very difficult to get out of, making it very interesting to see what will happen.
@cschuy32: I doubt it. Red Bull have much younger drivers on its programme such as Costa and Sainz Jr.
Magnussen has set the initial benchmark in this session - a 1:36.622.
@Heath: I don't think so.
Ricciardo, the man we could call the new undisputed Red Bull number one, completes his first lap and goes P1 - lowering the target to a 1:36.327.
If Toro Rosso now sign Carlos Sainz Jr, does that make Max Verstappen the senior driver?by Will Buxton via twitter 10/4/2014 2:09:58 AM
April 10: Free practice 1