Renault-powered cars lead the way as Max Verstappen, now on the medium tyre, slices the gap between himself and Daniel Ricciardo down to four tenths of a second. His Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz is third fastest.

Not heard much from Mercedes so far in this session. Lewis Hamilton is currently seventh fastest, 3.8s off Daniel Ricciardo's time but still on the slower hard tyres.

"Any thoughts what you want to do with the balance," he is asked over team radio.

"More downforce if we have any," he replies.

Jennie Gow
BBC Radio 5 live pit-lane reporter

Ben Edwards
BBC F1 commentator

Daniel Ricciardo's switch from the hard tyre to the faster medium tyre has seen him make a gain of around 1.3s as he improves the P1 time to 1:34.755.

Kimi Raikkonen, also the medium tyre, goes 11th fastest with 1:39.363.

Just over 10 minutes in and Daniel Ricciardo makes the switch from hard tyres to the compound tyres.

The two Ferraris have just emerged, with Sebastian Vettel popping out for an installation lap before heading back in.

The laps are being racked up now, with 18 drivers having put times on the board. Daniel Ricciardo still has the early benchmark, with Max Vestappen in P2, half a second slower, Baltteri Bottas third, Daniil Kvyat fifth and Carlos Sainz sixth.

There's also a few issues for a couple of the drivers on the circuit too, with Felipe Massa reporting a loose headrest, and Jenson Button complaining of "massive" understeer.

No installation laps this morning as drivers crack straight on with putting in some timed laps. Daniel Ricciardo gets things up and running with a 1:36.010.

Meanwhile, there's smoke coming out of the back of Romain Grosjean's Lotus. They spent very little time on the track on Friday.

With the fans at Suzuka dressed in all sorts of crazy outfits and hats, we are asking what are the strangest sights you have seen in F1. A cheeky one to start with from Mark here...

This should be a very, very busy session as teams cram in three hours of race and qualifying preparation into just one hour.

There's a queue to get on to the circuit as they wait for the green light to go, which is subsequently does and Daniel Ricciardo leads several cars out on to the circuit. 

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Suzuka

Image source, Getty Images

“Some interesting quotes emerged overnight. Fernando Alonso’s manager Flavio Briatore hinted to the Spanish newspaper Marca that the Spaniard was already beginning to wonder whether he would be staying for the full three years of his contract at McLaren. ‘No-one imagined it would be this disaster,’ Briatore said. ‘But I know the people from Honda well and although they do things their way, they know engines. In 2016 they will be fighting for podiums.’ He added: ‘If he cannot get a winning car in Formula 1, he will find it somewhere else.’ 

"The strong implication is that if McLaren-Honda’s performance does not improve dramatically next year, Alonso will be looking for the exit door. These are, to say the least, interesting times at McLaren.”

Image source, Getty Images

Top work, sir.

Coverage of final practice is live now on BBC Two. Get involved.

Image source, Red Bull Racing

To kick things off, here's a picture of Daniel Ricciardo indulging in a bit of Sumo wrestling...

Image source, Jolyon Palmer

Right, with fans wearing hats with cars on, another spectator dressed as a Geisha and F1 drivers in the multi-million pound sport of Formula 1 having to eat a bag of crisps for lunch, it is fair to say there have been some unusual sights so far in Suzuka.

It is rude not to have a bit of fun in the early hours of Saturday morning, so what's the most unusual or wacky thing you have seen in Formula 1? 

Let us know via #bbcf1,, external text in on 81111 (UK only) and post your comment on the BBC Sport Facebook page. If you have pictures too, then send them in!

It has been an unusual week for Lotus so far. 

The team faces an uncertain future amid mounting money problems, and found themselves locked out of their hospitality unit on Thursday and Friday, leading to some unusual pictures of Jolyon Palmer having to sit on the floor and eat a bag of crisps during lunch on Friday, and Romain Grosjean spending the interval sitting on some cool boxes.

Bernie Ecclestone stepped in to make sure the Lotus mechanics would not go hungry, though, giving them access to the catering in the VIP Paddock Club.

"They don't have to beg for food any more because we've looked after them," said Ecclestone. "It's not nice for the team. We've done all we can do."