Pity the remaining four circuits waiting to host a round of the Formula One championship. Pity particularly India, a country that has been waiting so long for its turn to take a bow on the F1 stage and which now faces hosting a 'dead rubber', to use a tennis term.
Sebastian Vettel is world champion once again with a fifth of the season still to go, and some are muttering about the odds of the 24-year-old bettering his compatriot Michael Schumacher's achievements over time. 'Bloody Germans,' Jenson Button quipped after the race at the Suzuka circuit.
With South Korea coming up this weekend, don't expect any let up from Red Bull. Vettel and the team have promised to use the final four races to explore the car and start preparing for next season. It's an ominous statement of intent from the champion.
While all the plaudits, the media attention and the autograph hunters have been focused on the engaging Vettel, don't forget the input that the rest of the team have had in the triumph. There's one man in particular who has been key to Red Bull's success, and that's their chief technical officer Adrian Newey.
'The brains of Milton Keynes' as he isn't very often known, brings a Midas touch to all he designs. He's already produced championship-winning cars for Williams and McLaren, so this current success will be nothing new. Other teams want him on board badly - Ferrari tried last year to get him to come to Maranello. But Newey seems happy to stay, extending his contract. He's said to be paid US$10 million a year, more than the majority of drivers.
Are we about to witness a long period of dominance in the sport, not unlike Schumacher and Ferrari? Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, for one, isn't so sure. He feels that Vettel's unlikely to break Schumacher's record of seven titles. Hill's argument is that the sport is a lot more competitive now and that until Vettel is forced to scrap in a tight championship in a car that doesn't have an inbuilt advantage, we won't know just how good he is. Remember also that Vettel only came in third over the weekend in Japan. The winner of that particular scrap was Jenson Button, whose form has soared as the season has progressed. Finally, his car is good enough to back him up.