Despite the troubles that Ferrari have had with their system in recent races, Honda are pushing forward with their own pit-stop traffic-light system. The team have tested it for the first time during pit-stop practice on Thursday, with the potential to run the system during a practice session in the last few races of the season.

Honda driver Rubens Barrichello has admitted that this may be his last season in Formula One. The 36 year old Brazilian is hoping to remain in F1 for the next few years, however he has admitted that he might not get a drive for the 2009 season.

The Toyota team have decided to take advantage of the engine joker rule and change Timo Glock’s engine ahead of qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.

This season’s rules allow for each driver to have one unscheduled engine change without penalty during the season. With three races left on the F1 schedule, Toyota have chosen to use this engine change rule to allow Glock a new engine for the Fuji Speedway.

Track owners Toyota were given a boost by Timo Glock during the second practice session thanks to the German driver finishing the session at the top of the timesheets. Renault’s Fernando Alonso is looking to continue his good run of form and finished the session in second, just ahead of the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton has topped the timesheets in the first free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The track at Fuji saw bright and sunny conditions in an fairly uneventful session. Track owners Toyota had a disappointing start to the weekend with Trulli an Glock finishing in 15th and 18th. Local favourite Kazuki Nakajima was also unable to impress managing 10th place overall.

Red Bull Racing are still none the wiser as to the cause of their gearbox failure during the Singapore Grand Prix.

Mark Webber was forced to retire from the race after his gearbox tried to select two gears at the same time. Team principal Christian Horner initially stated that they thought the problem was possibly due to static caused by passing tram, however Singapore’s tram company have refuted the claims.

The controversial safety car rules look set to be amended for the final race of the season, allowing drivers to refuel at any point during a Safety Car period.

The Singapore Grand Prix reignited Safety Car rule controversy after the rules shook up the race order, allowing Fernando Alonso to take a race win, with Nico Rosberg coming second.

Bernie Ecclestone is reported to be working on a plan which will see Formula One engines standardized.

According to British newspaper The Times, Ecclestone and Mosley are planning to impose regulations which would mean an engine must last for half of the season, potentially greatly reducing the costs associated with running an F1 car.

Green issues are being pushed to the fore in the run-up to the Japanese Grand Prix. During the Fuji race-weekend, all the cars will running with green-striped tyres to show support for the FIA’s ‘Make Cars Green’ campaign. The softer compound tyres will have a single white stripe alongside the green stripes in order to easily differentiate the two types of tyres.

Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) system have said that their trams were not responsible for the gearbox troubles which caused Red Bull’s Mark Webber to retire from the Singapore Grand Prix.