Japanese Grand Prix qualifying – F1: Live timing and lap-by-lap updates as Max Verstappen looks to claim fourth consecutive pole position of the season with first qualifying session underway

Kevin Magnussen is the first driver to take to the track for Q1. He hasn’t been happy with the car and they have made some changes: he had the worst time in P3. The Dane is using a set of soft tires in a bid to reach Q2.

Kudos to whoever put together these Hamilton and Russell dolls, but I find them a little creepy.

Russel Jr has no mouth, which should make radio communications difficult.

To be honest, I’m a little baffled by all of this.

How come the cans don’t fall off your head at that angle? Who do you give them to? Did Verstappen and Pérez know that they would be recreated in miniature to advertise the incipient activity of selling drinks of this type?

Henry Clark is Mail Sport’s man on the ground this weekend.

We’re just a few minutes away from qualifying and he’s been posting on X, so be sure to follow him.

Lewis Hamilton has been in good spirits following the encouraging signs from the Silver Arrows this weekend so far.

He claims that these are the best feelings the car has had all year, although the previous races have not been that difficult to overcome…

RB gave Ayumu Iwasa a debut at his home GP during the first few practice sessions and has been enjoying the love from his home fans.

The same goes for Yuki Tsunoda, who has received a lot of love from the F1 faithful.

These Prancing Horse fans were certainly joking as they put on their favorite caps, but the atmosphere won’t be the same in the team’s garage.

Sky Sports reports that Ferrari has struggled to adapt to the temperatures in Japan and could be fourth fastest in this standings behind Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren.

In P3, Carlos Sainz recorded the seventh fastest time and Charles Leclerc could only manage tenth place, worse than RB’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Rachel Brookes of Sky Sports said: “Ferrari is not as quick as we expected this weekend.” It seems that the warmer temperatures are affecting them today: everyone expected it to be much colder.

“It’s around 19 degrees today and this has potentially caught them a little bit as these warmer temperatures don’t work for them at the moment.”

Our reporter Henry Clark is in Japan and sent us this analysis of the third practice session… and it turns out it was quite turbulent for Red Bull!

“There were a lot of eyes on this morning’s third and final practice session after the weather made yesterday’s second practice a bit wet.

“On the track, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was the fastest, but not everything was easy for the Dutchman.

“He complained about a vibrating mirror while Verstappen was also forced to take matters into his own hands – literally – as he reached out from his cockpit to press on a piece of tape that had come loose on his car.

‘His teammate Sergio Pérez was second fastest despite complaining about handling problems with his car.

“There were more encouraging signs for Mercedes, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton third and fourth fastest respectively.”

Did you know that Oscar Piastri knows some Japanese?

He may be from Australia, but it turns out he’s quite fluent in the native language of this weekend’s GP.

Back at the Australian GP, ​​Max Verstappen’s car failure meant he lost his nine-race winning streak.

That gave Carlos Sainz the opportunity to sneak in and claim the top step of the podium after returning from appendicitis.

None of the Mercedes cars finished. It’s been a terrible start to the season for them. Can they recover this weekend?

Charles Leclerc was infuriated when the decision was made to send him late for a second flying lap, giving him less track time.

A rainy second practice session left the teams with little chance to test themselves, so there was even more responsibility on a good third session, which Leclerc clearly felt the Scuderia didn’t have!

Red Bull completed a 1-2 in the third practice session, with Max Verstappen leading with a time of 1:29.563, ahead of Sergio Pérez at 0.269s.

Mercedes had an encouraging session, with George Russell recording the third fastest time ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fourth. If they can repeat that form in qualifying, Toto Wolff will be a happy man.

Good morning and welcome to Mail Sport’s live coverage of qualifying for the Japanese GP at Suzuka. The first qualifying session will begin at 3pm UK time to grab some popcorn, put on your helmet and do whatever it takes to get in the mood for another biscuit.