F1 Japanese GP live commentary and updates: Race day

No further action from the stewards in the Bearman-Colapinto incident.

The "incident" between Colapinto and Bearman is under investigation by the stewards. Certainly the closing speed was massive, for reasons which require explanation – it looked like the loss of control was initiated by Bearman taking evasive action. There are those who suggest Colapinto was moving under braking – looked like a perfectly normal racing line to these eyes, plus onboards reveal Franco didn't look in his mirrors, which suggests he wasn't actively defending the position.

The Safety Car has very much brought Verstappen back into play with Gasly for P7, meanwhile, and he's tucked into the Alpine's slipstream... Max has a look at the chicane at the end of lap 29 but can't make it stick.

Antonelli sets the fastest lap to pull 1.8 clear of Piastri.

Safety Car coming in at the end of lap 27.

"Can you confirm Kimi is going in the place that we trained?" asks Russell, clearly alluding to some rehearsal of the restart procedure. Unless the plan is to go for a pee behind a specific bush?

Lindblad was another of the drivers to pit before the incident and that has left him P14. Ditto Hadjar in P13. Hadjar undercut Lindblad when they pitted a lap apart, but both have lost position to Lawson, Bortoleto and Hulkenberg. Ocon was less disadvantaged by his green-flag stop and is currently P11, between the two Audis.

Yes, the Ferrari had a quick enough stop but then was strangely tardy at the pit exit and slotted in behind Russell rather than ahead of him.

We'll need to review the onboards of Hamilton's stop because he ought to have left the pits further forward than he did...

Replays show Bearman limping behind the barrier – that was a hard hit indeed. He was shaping up to pass Colapinto into the Spoon but lost it well before corner entry and arrived sideways on the grass before going back across the track, through the run-off and sideways into the barrier.

Hamilton emerges P4 behind Antonelli, Piastri and Russell. Gasly and Verstappen also pit under the SC and emerge net P7 and P8.

Antonelli and Hamilton pit at the end of lap 22 and that enables the Mercedes to retain the net lead.

"Unbelievable!" bellows Russell of the SC timing. Channelling EMF's 1990 hit?

It's a three-second stop for Russell, which isn't great, but crucially he emerges between Piastri and Verstappen.

Russell pits at the end of lap 21.

This has cost Piastri half a second to Antonelli.

Piastri tries to go by Verstappen at the chicane at the end of lap 20, but Max 'parks the bus' and Oscar has to wait until the main straight to go by the Red Bull for P5. Gasly next up, two seconds up the road...

On lap 19 Antonelli took another six tenths out of Russell.

"I think I'm going to lose a lot of time extending," says Russell.

Antonelli does the fastest lap of the race, 1m34.095s, nearly seven tenths faster than Russell. The gap between the Mercs at the head of the field now 2.4s.

Piastri now in at the end of lap 18. He emerges P6, 4.7s ahead of Leclerc and 1.9s behind Verstappen.

Smart thinking by Ferrari there to seize the moment – Leclerc emerges ahead of Norris to the tune of 1.5s.

Leclerc pits at the end of lap 17 as Norris makes his way past Ocon for P8.

Bearman also pits out of that P12-P16 train. That will probably trigger the rest to guard against the undercut.

Stop time of 2.5s for the McLaren – not too bad but it puts him back on track P9 behind Esteban Ocon.

McLaren discussing pit options with Piastri. But it's Lando Norris who breaks for the pitlane at the end of lap 16!

Antonelli goes for a gap at the chicane at the end of lap 15, passes Leclerc, but the Ferrari ripostes on the main straight and reclaims P3. Hamilton takes advantage to close to within a second of the Mercedes.

Lindblad actually took half a second out of Ocon on lap 13, then the best part of a couple of tenths on lap 14, but he's been given a black-and-white flag for moving under braking at the chicane while defending against Hadjar.

The exception to the tyre management rule is Antonelli, who is half a second off Leclerc and now putting him under pressure.

Hadjar properly harrying Lindblad. This is the main battle happening on track as the frontrunners slip into tyre management mode – Russell and Piastri are a second apart and Piastri is already managing graining on his front-left tyre.

There's now a 2.5s gap between Russell and Leclerc.

Antonelli 'does a Russell' on Norris into the chicane at the end of lap 11 to snatch P4.

Behind that battle for the final top 10 spot between Lindblad and Hadjar, Lawson is 2.2s further back in P12. He's at the head of a train that stretches back to Bearman in P15, then there's another gap (3s) to Sainz in P16.

Norris has another go at Leclerc at the chicane at the end of lap nine, but once again he can't get a foothold and that brings Antonelli back into play. The Mercedes has a look on the main straight but tucks back in.

What was that we were saying about yo-yo racing? Russell slingshots out of 130R faster than Piastri at the end of lap eight and goes by into the chicane, but the McLaren blasts back past on the main straight.

Behind, Norris tried to do the same to Leclerc but couldn't quite pull it off.

Hadjar shaping up to add to Lindblad's misery – now half a second behind the Racing Bulls in P10.

It remains tricky to overtake at Suzuka – we're not seeing much of the yo-yo racing which was evident in the opening two races. That's also a factor of the drivers getting used to the energy management, of course.

As we begin lap seven, Antonelli remains behind Norris in P5. Gasly now having a little race of his own in P7, 3.7s behind P6 and 4.6s ahead of Verstappen. Max dropping off by a tenth or so a lap.

Starting replays show Piastri seizing the moment from P3 to swoop around Antonelli and chop across in front of Leclerc.

Lap five and the top six are starting to break away a little bit from Gasly in P7, the gap now 2.1s.

Verstappen now passes Lindblad for P8 – it's a bad lap for Arvid as he drops behind Ocon.