Summary

  • Max Verstappen wins from Lando Norris

  • Piastri third, Leclerc fourth, Russell fifth, Antonelli sixth

  • Hamilton seventh and Bearman 10th

  • Norris complains that Verstappen forced him on to grass at pit-lane exit

  • Get involved: #bbcf1

Live Reporting

Gary Rose

  1. Eye-catching Red Bull

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    Max Verstappen's pole position comes at a good time with Red Bull racing in a one-off white and red livery to honour the final year of their partnership with Honda.

    They are not the only ones to catch the eye with Haas also marking being in Japan with a special cherry blossom themed livery.

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  2. Andrew Benson Q&A: Send us your questions

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    Do you have a question about F1?

    Our F1 correspondent Andrew Benson can answer them in his weekly Q&A.

    Send in your questions here and we'll put the best to Andrew following the Japanese Grand Prix.

  3. 'Everything got worse and worse'

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    Yuki Tsunoda was having a decent debut weekend in the Red Bull following his promotion to replace Liam Lawson from this race, but qualifying didn't go to plan.

    He finished 15th fastest, with Lawson outqualifying him by one place.

    “I think the warm-up didn’t go as I wanted. I’m still learning,” he said.

    “The warm-up, how it ended up, I thought it was OK. I knew it was maybe going to be a bit compromised, but the penalty was pretty big.

    "It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to extract the performance from the car. It was looking good from Q1 and it just felt that overall, everything got worse and worse throughout. A great shame."

  4. F1 officials hoping rain will solve grass fire issues

    Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent at Suzuka

    .Reuters

    Formula 1 officials are hoping that overnight rain will solve the problem of grass fires that have afflicted the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.

    The grass alongside the track igniting in different places has so far caused five red-flag stoppages at Suzuka, including one in qualifying on Saturday.

    There was wet weather in the early hours of Sunday morning, which should solve the problem before the race.

  5. Get involved

    Get Involved: #bbcf1, via WhatsApp on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply)

    How do you see today's race going?

    Let us know via #bbcf1, WhatsApp on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply)

  6. The Grid

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    There's a slight change to the grid for today's race with Carlos Sainz dropping from 12th to 15th after he was hit with a three-place penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton during Q2 in qualifying.

    The Williams driver was running slow while Hamilton was on a fast lap, leading to the seven-time world champion having to go off the track to avoid a collision

  8. Best of his career?

    Andrew Benson
    BBC F1 correspondent at Suzuka

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    Was the lap that put Max Verstappen on pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix the best of his career?

    The Red Bull driver himself certainly thought it was up there.

    "It's difficult," Verstappen said. "I mean, I've had some really nice ones also in other places. But I think if you look at how our season started, even during this weekend... yeah, it's very unexpected, I would say. And I think that makes it probably a very special one."

    His Red Bull team were stunned. And so were McLaren.

    Verstappen had not looked as if he was in contention for pole at any point of the weekend until the final lap of qualifying at Suzuka. If McLaren had a rival, it had looked until then as if it would most likely be George Russell.

    The four-time champion was struggling with the balance of his Red Bull throughout the practice sessions.

    The team were making change after change to the car to try to make the driver happier. But on the first runs in the final qualifying session, he was still more than 0.2 seconds slower than the quickest McLaren, at that time Oscar Piastri.

    But then Verstappen did something special. Really special.

    "The last lap," he said, "I was like: 'Well, I'm just going to not try and feel comfortable - just send it in and see what we get.

    "It's very rare, of course, that a lap like that then can stick, but this time it worked well."

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    Hello!

    Welcome along to our coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix.

    McLaren have dominated the season so far by taking pole position and victory in the first two races but Max Verstappen's experience on this circuit showed yesterday to ensure they have work to do to make it three wins from three today.

    It is lights out at Suzuka in just under one hour.

  10. Verstappen to continue dominance in Japan?

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    For the past three years the Japanese Grand Prix has belonged to Max Verstappen as he has turned pole position into victory.

    He is once again in the prime position to claim win number four after a brilliant lap in qualifying yesterday saw him take a surprise pole.

    But, with the in-form McLarens lurking in close attention, we should be in for an interesting race today...