How qualifying for the F1 Japanese Grand Prix unfolded

Zhou goes fifth in the Alfa Romeo - a tidy lap.

Perez moves up to fourth in the Red Bull.

Verstappen goes second on the mediums, 0.3s off Sainz.

Albon moves up to fourth.

This session is now getting quicker and quicker 

Carlos Sainz goes fastest as he jumps on a fresh pair of softs#JapaneseGP#F1pic.twitter.com/DEUkX1MDGj

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 8, 2022

Gasly goes seventh for AlphaTauri now.

Order with 25 minutes to go: Sainz, Leclerc, Verstappen, Alonso, Ocon, Hamilton, Russell, Perez, Bottas and Zhou.

Leclerc slots into second, 0.4s off his teammate.

Sainz smashes Verstappen's benchmark by 1.0s to take P1.

The Ferraris are now out on track on the softs.

Good laps from the two Alpines.

Alonso and Ocon go second and third, within 0.6s of Verstappen at the top.

Russell fares better than his teammate, slotting into P2, 0.9s off the pace.

Bottas goes fourth in the Alfa Romeo, 1.3s off the pace.

Hamilton's first soft lap of the day puts him third, 1.2s off.

Both Mercs are now out there on the softs.

20 minutes gone - It's Verstappen 1.1s clear at the top ahead of Perez, Norris, Ricciardo, Tsunoda, Gasly, Albon and Sainz.

A mixture of low and high fuel runs are going on.

Hamilton and Russell are over four seconds off at the moment.

Current order: Verstappen, Perez, Norris, Ricciardo, Tsunoda, Gasly, Albon, Sainz, Alonso and Ocon.

A busy session already with Verstappen on top ahead of Perez, Norris, Ricciardo and Gasly.

10 minutes gone already.

A mix of tyres with softs for the Red Bulls and McLarens. Hamilton is out there on the hards.

Verstappen sets a 1m32.050s, 1.1s clear of the rest of the field.

A confident man...

The good news is the session is dry!