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Japanese GP
F1 Japanese GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP3 & Qualifying
Saturday's practice and qualifying for F1's Japanese Grand Prix
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A week after Singapore, Suzuka also returns to the calendar following a three-year absence, where Max Verstappen can claim a second F1 world title if he is 112 points clear of second place in the standings at the chequered flag.
Sergio Perez won last time out at Singapore, after a faultless drive helped him stave off the intermittent threats of Charles Leclerc.
Suzuka's last race was held in 2019, and was won by Valtteri Bottas - who beat Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton to victory.
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So the new five drivers in danger in this final Q1 run is: Zhou, Magnussen, Vettel, Latifi and Albon.
Mercedes has given up on its medium tyres, switching both drivers on to the softs, to see Russell go sixth and Hamilton go eighth. Elsewhere Albon has had his lap time deleted for track limits and drops to the bottom of the pile.
"Work on brakes, straight line braking when you can," Tsunoda is asked. "Yeah I know, I'm doing!" Is his curt response.
To make matters worse for AlphaTauri, Tsunoda appears to suffer a similar brake issue as he badly locks up at the chicane and chews through his front-right tyre.
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"Problem with the brakes. What the **** is going on?" Gasly asks on team radio. He's ninth currently so not in immediate danger but that'll worry the AlphaTauri squad.
That means the bottom five in the Q1 drop zone is: Russell, Magnussen, Vettel, Hamilton, Latifi.
Alonso is the last of the 20 drivers to set a lap time and slots into fourth place behind Verstappen, Sainz and Leclerc.
Sainz splits the Red Bulls to go second, 0.112s off Verstappen, and then Leclerc goes third fastest just a fraction behind his team-mate.
Stopwatch
Verstappen goes quickest with a 1m30.224s, four-tenths of a second up on Red Bull team-mate Perez.
Both Mercedes are on the mediums, with everyone else on the softs. What do they know that the rest don't?
There's a charge towards the pitlane exit as plenty of cars head out, including Verstappen, Perez and Sainz.
Stopwatch
The TV director opts to go onboard with Tsunoda for his first flying lap, a decision we very much back. What a mega track Suzuka is. The home hero puts in a 1m31.631s to lead the early efforts.
In the Ferrari garage Leclerc is carefully climbing into his car while it is still up on the jacks. He's still got 16 minutes left in Q1 but he won't want too much of a delay.
Lights green
Right, time to stop filling and get Q1 going. Tsunoda, Latifi and Gasly head out early.
But to argue against our own point, Bottas won from third on the grid in 2019. Let's just say qualifying as far forward as possible on the grid is key. And water is wet.
It feels like we say this every time before qualifying, but it does underline the point. Qualifying is all-important, with 15 Japanese GPs won from pole position and 26 won from starting on the front row.
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Weather watch: Very not Friday. No chance of rain and a middling 19.8 degrees under the cloud cover. But a word of warning, it is rather blowy out there.
On the 2022 pole stakes, it is Leclerc with nine, Verstappen with four, Sainz with two, Perez with one and Russell with one.
Looking ahead to qualifying, the sneak peek that FP3 provided saw Verstappen top the session with a 1m30.671s - comfortably faster than anything from the wet Friday - and 0.294s quicker than nearest rival Sainz.
A tiny bit of housekeeping from final practice, Williams has been given a €1000 fine after Alex Albon ran on a mixed set of tyres during the session.
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Here's another Japanese GP memory, but more on these later...
As you’ll be well aware, this is the first Japanese F1 race since 2019, but actually this is the first Saturday qualifying at Suzuka since 2018. Saturday was cancelled by Typhoon Hagibis and the F1 drivers played video games all day. Simpler times.
Green flag
Here we go again, coffee to hand and ready for Japanese GP qualifying. Who are you backing for pole?
We're going to caffeinate and prepare for qualifying, which is coming up in about one hour and 45 minutes. See you very shortly!
In case you're just waking up, or just prefer FP sessions in written form, here's the FP3 report: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-japanese-gp-verstappen-tops-dry-final-practice-from-ferrari-pair/10381203/
Sainz, Leclerc, Alonso and Perez complete the top five, as Russell and Hamilton sit just outside. A few practice starts are now taking place, with the Haases bravely taking the front row.
Checkered flag
Russell almost clouts into Gasly's AlphaTauri in the hairpin as the session now comes to an end. Signs of improvement from some of the runners amount to nothing - and Verstappen ends FP3 on top.
Stopwatch
Verstappen then does a 1m30.671s to go top, knocking Sainz off his perch in the final four minutes of the session. Alonso goes up to fourth in the meantime.
Leclerc sets the best first sector, but does a 1m30.980s and can't overhaul Sainz at the top. It's close, though.
More quali sims come in, and Ricciardo goes P6 with a 1m31.860s. But he's displaced by Stroll, who in turn is displaced by Norris in a three-way tussle for sixth.
Hamilton gets up to fifth now, a shade off Russell, while Bottas nips ahead of Zhou for seventh.
Zhou hustles his Alfa Romeo up to fifth place, going a shade faster than Albon, before Russell gets into fourth in his Mercedes on softs.
Perez moves up to fourth on the medium tyre, 0.9s off Sainz's benchmark. We've just under 15 minutes left of the session.
A nice camera shot of Vettel's steering arm moving smoothly around the hairpin, before a snap yields a few changes in direction as the German tries to overcome the slip. He bites into the corner, eventually, but loses time.
Stopwatch
After his opening salvo at the start of the session, Verstappen's on the medium tyre and seeing what he can get out of it. And it's an improvement, a 1m31.316s, to get P2.
Albon fires his Williams up to fourth in the times, 0.4s off Verstappen.
Gasly splits the Merc pair and gets the seventh-fastest time, before Tsunoda charges up to sixth to move his outbound team-mate down a position.
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But Sainz is on a flier, and charges to the top of the timing boards with a 1m30.965s. Leclerc follows him to the line and buzzes in with a 1m31.388s.
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The Alpines now set a flurry of times on the mediums, Alonso going second and Ocon third - 0.5s and 0.6s off Verstappen's benchmark.
By: autosport.com
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