Giles Richards reports on another Mercedes front-row lockout, this time in qualifying at the F1 Japanese Grand Prix.

And that is all from me … Giles’s report will be along shortly, and do join Joey Lynch tomorrow for the race itself.

Andrea Stella, the McLaren principal, is pleased to be mixing it with Ferrari this weekend. He says they are getting a bit more out of the chassis, but more the power unit. He says Piastri has been faster here and indeed all season, but just not able to show it, with his two did not starts. Norris is being disrupted by team problems. Stella hopes for “a normal race” after three DNSs across the two grands prix.

Norris speaks, asked about his disrupted weekend and lack of laps. “Very difficult to answer. Impacted our ability to test things … I’ve been playing a lot of catchup. I think I did a good job – could have been better, could have been a lot worse.”

Toto Wolff is asked if Antonelli has changed since winning a race. The Mercedes principal praises his calmness on the radio. “Not putting himself under pressure.” Russell has a setup issue, which Wolff think won’t be fixable tomorrow. Alas, the Austrian’s English lets him down for once and he blames a twerk rather than a tweak, which had a bigger impact than expected.

So there we are. Can Antonelli get off the line cleanly, or will Russell bite back at his teammate? Joey Lynch will be with you tomorrow morning for the race itself, while Giles Richards is at Suzuka and his qualifying report will be along shortly.

Alesi tells Antonelli he will wake up all of Italy tomorrow, but asks him to talk about the fans in Japan. “The fans here in Japan are pretty incredible … So much passion. The track is unbelievable and the fans give us a boost.”

Jean Alesi interviewing the top three. Antonelli “super happy with the session … I felt very good in the car”. Russell praises his teammate. Piastri says “We clearly don’t have the pace or the grip to match Mercedes” but is naturally happy with third. Can he finally start a race?

So the top 10: Antonelli, Russell, Piastri, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Gasly, Hadjar, Bortoleto and Lindblad.

Antonelli goes back-to-back. “Let’s go man! Wow! Good qualy. Epic.” He had the two fastest laps, despite not improving on the last run after a temperature drop.

Leclerc is the man who can beat Antonelli now.

Final runs start, Russell pipping Antonellis on early sectors but drops back. Hamilton done for going slowly in the pits.

Four different teams in seventh to 10th: Hadjar for Red Bull, Gasly for Alpine, Bortoleto for Audi, Lindblad for Racing Bulls. That is your midfield.

Verstappen interviewed. “The car never turns mid-corner … oversteer a lot on entries. Unpredictable.” He sounds quite subdued, not a word I associate with the four-time champion.

No time for Lindblad, breaching track limits, but he will be delighted if he starts 10th.

Piastri third, Norris fourth. Hamilton fifth for a moment but Leclerc knocks him down.

But Russell is three 10ths down by the end of the lap. Antonelli on provisional pole, but Hamilton goes fastest in the first sector.

Here comes Q3 and the Mercedes. Antonelli looking so much smoother than Russell so. far, but now the Briton looks as if he may have got it together.

Verstappen is not the only unhappy bunny. Russell is struggling here. Mercedes have had three lockouts so far, including the sprint race in China, but that is not looking likely now.

“There is something wrong with the car. It’s completely undriveable. Jumping at high speed.” An expletive-free reaction from Verstappen. Also out: Ocon, Hülkenberg, Lawson, Colapinto and Sainz.

Verstappen can only go ninth … and is pushed down by his teammate Hadjar. But Hülkenberg struggles in the final sector. But Arvid Lindblad in the Racing Bulls does take 10th! Verstappen out!

Drama down in 10th – Verstappen at risk. Hulkenberg is the man in 11th. But at the top, Leclerc goes fastest!

Russell is down in sixth after the first runs. Out on new rubber, he comes three 10ths down on Piastri – all lost in the last sector. His rear tyres are proving problematic.

Bortoleto up to third, new tyres doing their job. Gasly and Hadjar knock Verstappen down to eighth. That becomes 10th after Piastri goes fastest on his new rubber and Norris comes home too.

Antonelli will be first through: 1:27.774 – Russell is 0.343 slower and is soon pipped by Leclerc. Hamilton fourth.

The Mercedes and the Ferraris are out in Q2.

Bearman is the Q1 disappointment at one end, at the other it’s Norris. The world champion managed only eighth, beaten by the Audis of Hülkenberg and Bortoleto. The top five? Leclerc, Russell, Antonelli, Piastri and Hamilton.

We have our elimination list: Albon, Bearman, Perez, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll. A surprise blow for Bearman, having qualified 12th and 10th in the previous two races.

Here comes the Briton … and he is just 0.052 behind Leclerc.

Top six in the pits – that group does not include Russell.

Albon, Sainz, Bottas, Perez, Stroll and Alonso in the drop zone. No surprises there.

Hamilton third fastest, behind Antonelli … while Leclerc moves ahead of them all. Good signs for Ferrari.

Russell reports an aerodynamic problem, likely caused by tyre temperature.

And Antonelli goes fastest, by 0.043 – while Russell is half a second down in fifth. Hmm.

Hamilton can only split the McLarens, while Leclerc beats Piastri by 0.360. But here come Mercedes.

Piastri is out and goes fastest through the early sectors. He has had more laps from Norris, for technical-hitch reasons – and it is showing. 130.438 for the Australian, the Briton two tenths back.

Liam Lawson comes in at 131.7. He is tipped to make it to Q3 for Racing Bulls, which would be a huge step up for the New Zealander. Teammate Arvid Lindblad goes a 10th faster.

We’re off … The first cars trundling out for their warm-up laps.

It’s not all about the drivers, of course. Here’s Princess Akiko meeting the Haas principal, Ayao Komatsu.

Less than five minutes to the off. Poor, cash-strapped F1 has not been able to update the season graphic to remove Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, or else is leaving them on out of solidarity.

Bernie Collins on Sky is analysing the theoretical best times of the top 10, and there are no surprises on the notional front row, with Russell 0.021 behind Antonelli. But there is more than half a second back to Leclerc in third, leading the Ferrari + McLaren quartet, and Verstappen is in 10th, behind Liam Lawson, who a year ago was demoted from Red Bull to Racing Bulls for this race after struggling in the role of the Dutchman’s sidekick.

Just what has changed this season. Here’s our graphic guide to it all.

At the back of the field, the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and new dad Fernando Alonso were more than four seconds slower than Antonelli. They were close to a second behind the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez, so even if they find some reliability they are practically competing in a different sport to the front row.

What of the rest, starting with the orange elephant in the room?

Max Verstappen, fresh from banishing our Giles Richards from a press conference, is still complaining about the new rules. He is not alone in this – and the powers that be have tweaked regulations at Suzuka to reduce the amount of lifting – but Red Bull’s four-time world champion is the loudest, most famous, least restrained voice. He was 1.548 down on Antonelli in FP3, beaten by Nico Hülkenberg’s Audi. There is surely no way that Verstappen will claim a fifth straight Suzuka pole.

Incidentally, Verstappen’s busman’s holiday to GT3 at the Nürburgring did not quite go to plan. He took pole and the chequered flag, but wound up empty-handed.

FP3, though, was a Mercedes show: Antonelli first, with Russell 0.254 back – and then more than half a second to Leclerc. Piastri split the Ferraris, beating Hamilton by 0.019, with Norris sixth.

How has the weekend gone so far for the other frontrunners?

First free practice was a Mercedes one-two, with Antonelli second by 0.026sec, with the McLarens of Norris and Piastri just behind. There was more encouragement for the constructors’ champions in FP2, with Piastri going fastest. McLaren were quick to say they expected Mercedes and Ferrari to be out in front once the action became competitive but, in the context of Norris’s run to fifth in Melbourne being the only full-race action the team have done this season, this was at least encouraging. Charles Leclerc was the faster of the Ferraris in the first two sessions, ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Norris did manage third in sprint qualifying in China, dropping one place in the sprint race. He and Piastri were less than two 10ths slower than the Ferraris in GP qualifying in Shanghai. For all that both cars failed to start the race because of power-unit problems, McLaren’s underlying form suggests that sooner or later they could disrupt the leading four. As Russell said: “McLaren were pretty fast, so a little bit of a surprise, to be honest.”

Ferrari think they have not made progress. Diego Ioverno, their sporting director, said: “The gap is more or less where we expected it to be, also quite in line with the first two races, especially in the short runs. We have to improve.”