As the 25-year-old Frenchman battles for his life in Yokkaichi, the Formula One circus has set up camp at a new semi-street circuit created in the sprawling park built to host the 2014 winter Olympic Games last January.
To many observers, in the outside world, F1's arrival in the Black Sea resort close to the Georgia border is a cynical commercial exercise that, by association, endorses Russia's, and president Vladimir Putin's, behaviour in the conflicts in the Crimea and Ukraine this year.
"We are happy, the sponsors appear to be happy, so we carry on," F1's ringmaster told The Times.
"No one has spoken to me about this race or told me that we cannot go. The sanctions do not affect us and what we are doing is not illegal."
As the political arguments rage, the sport's leading figures are almost certain to restrict their comments on the first new circuit introduced in the calendar since Austin, Texas, in 2012, to bland technical assessments while being more engaged by concerns for their stricken colleague and the circumstances of his accident.
It will be a 53-laps race and, for Suzuka winner and championship leader Lewis Hamilton, offers an opportunity to extend his 10-points advantage over Mercedes team-mate and rival Nico Rosberg in the title contest. Both the Briton and the German have kept low profiles since departing Japan, where their scrap in the rain was overshadowed by the crash-marred finale.