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©1999-2023 Crash Media Group
The total or partial reproduction of text, photographs or illustrations is not permitted in any form.
What happened in Friday practice at the F1 Japanese GP?
F1 returns to Japan for the first time since 2019 after not racing at Suzuka over the past three years due to the pandemic.
Max Verstappen could become a two-time champion this weekend should he outscore Charles Leclerc by eight points, and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez by six.
Friday practice looks set to be disrupted by heavy rain. The forecast for Saturday and Sunday looks better.
FP2 is set to start at 7am.
Second practice will be extended by 30 minutes to allow for teams to test for Pirelli ahead of F1 2023.
This concludes our Friday live blog.
We will be back bright and early at 4am for FP3 tomorrow.
Keep across Crash.net for the latest news and reaction.
Chequered flag out - Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen, Perez and Magnussen.
Into the final five minutes.
No changes to the order.
Just under 20 minutes to go.
Russell remains on top with a 1m41.935s, 0.2s ahead of Hamilton.
Just over 30 minutes on the clock.
The. current order: Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, Perez, Ocon, Alonso, Zhou, Bottas and Leclerc.
Russell takes top spot with a 1m42.968s, 0.1s ahead of Verstappen. Hamilton is now 0.5s off.
Hamilton returns to the top of the order - less than a tenth ahead of Verstappen.
Leclerc has gone off at Turn 11.
He's managed to get going again.
Hamilton sets a 1m44.298s to go 0.8s clear of Russell.
Everyone is now switching to inters following Russell's P1 lap on the green tyres.
Order with one hour to go: Russell, Hamilton, Sainz, Norris, Tsunoda, Gasly, Ricciardo, Zhou, Albon and Latifi.
Hamilton goes quickest with a 1m49,489s, 0.1s ahead of Sainz.
"It's almost inters."
Hamilton becomes the ninth driver to take to the track in FP2.