An move at 130R! Sergio Perez decides to be brave and passes the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton to move up to fifth place.

Harry Benjamin
BBC F1 Commentator

The battle over fourth place on the road is currently between Lewis Hamilton, who has not stopped on the hard compound of tyre, he's being reeled in by Lando Norris who has stopped.

Can Lando Norris overtake the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton? Yes he can. The McLaren goes round the outside of the seven-time world champion to take fourth place and by Turn Two he's away.

Jeremiah: Hamilton volunteering to allow Russell pass him. More reasonable, for a team tactical game.

Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz have come into the pits for a stop.

The Red Bull rejoins the action in sixth, the Ferrari slots into seventh. Both drivers are on the medium tyres.

Lando Norris is up to fifth, right on the rear wing of Lewis Hamilton heading to Turn One...

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter

Gear box issues for Zhou in that Sauber, he will hope for better in two weeks time when he will be racing in front of his home fans.

Image source, Getty Images

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5. George Russell (Mercedes)

Alice Powell
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Hamilton does look like he's struggling with the rear of the car more compared to George.

Hard tyres for Oscar Piastri and an overtake completed on the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg for ninth spot.

Fastest lap of the race moves from the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and parks itself at the McLaren of Lando Norris in seventh.

Teamwork makes the dream work over at Mercedes. George Russell passes team-mate Lewis Hamilton for fifth place.

Another retirement at Suzuka. This time it's the Sauber of Zhou Guanyu who bids us farewell.

Image source, Reuters

"Shall I let George by?"

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter

Looking at those Ferraris just hearing from Leclerc and his engineer they are saying well done you are doing well and Ferrari this year seem to be kinder to their tyres and they do seem to be performing better, so whatever they have done in the winter seems to be working for tyre saving because last year they were terrible at it.

The advantage Max Verstappen holds over Sergio Perez is four seconds.

McLaren call in Oscar Piastri for a switch of tyres. The Australian is out into the action in 12th place, behind the Williams of Logan Sargeant.

At Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton asks should he let George Russell go by?

Lando Norris is struggling on his mediums and Carlos Sainz is waiting to pounce. Time for the Briton to come into the pits and switch to some hards.

Norris comes back out in 10th place, Sainz stays out and moves to third.

Image source, Getty Images

There is high degradation on the medium runners, Bono tells Lewis Hamilton, who is on the hard tyres.

Applause for Logan Sargeant! The American makes an overtake on Pierre Gasly's Alpine and moves up to 13th place.

"The steering is starting to feel a bit strange, a lot of vibrations."

George Russell locked up on the restart and now the Briton is on the team radio to Mercedes to say the steering "feels strange". Russell is in ninth just behind his Ferrari-bound team-mate Lewis Hamilton in eighth.

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter

I'm seeing a lot of people starting to come into the pits and switch onto those hard tyres, I'm just wondering are they using the performance of Hamilton and Russell who restarted on those hards and gone actually we fancy a bit of that.

Logan Sargeant, who had his own heavy crash this weekend, is the only driver representing Williams in this Japanese Grand Prix while Alex Albon watches on this weekend. The American is sitting in 14th place with four cars behind him.

"I see Lando struggling a little bit."