F1 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying as it happened

Good news! Norris's McLaren has been fired up and the reigning champion is putting his helmet on. With 28 minutes remaining, that has been some turnaround from McLaren! 

A couple of standout performers so far who deserve a mention; Arvid Lindblad lost all of FP2 on Friday, but has bounced back like a veteran, not like the rookie he is. Only Bortoleto is ahead of him in the midfield battle, and he is comfortably ahead of both Red Bull drivers. 

Talking of Bortoleto, for Audi to have both drivers inside the top 10 as a new power unit manufacturer, is nothing short of spectacular. Audi is certainly a team deserving of the highest praise in this initial phase of the season. 

Russell goes purple in sector one, puts in a personal best sector two and loses time in the final sector. The net result is that he moves clear of Antonelli into P2 for the time being. 

Leclerc goes fastest with a 1m30.229, and with Antonelli unable to improve on his second lap, is the new benchmark.

Away from the front, that's not a great look for Red Bull. Verstappen is sixth, but 1.138s off the pace, and Hadjar is only P14. 

Piastri continues the trend of vastly improved second efforts, and moves to within 0.383 of Antonelli, who is on his second lap now. 

Battle lines continue to be drawn at the front. Leclerc improved on his second timed effort, much as Hamilton did earlier on, and closes the gap to Antonelli to 0.118s. Russell goes third, 0.127s back, with his opening lap. 

With his first time of the hour, Piastri is fourth, behind both Ferrari drivers. The gap to the front for the Australian is 0.767. 

Purple in all three sectors, and Antonelli blows Leclerc's time out of the water, with a 1m30.418s effort. Leclerc is 0.6s back for Ferrari. That's some margin. 

A 1m31.018s puts Leclerc 0.038s clear of Hamilton, but that was on his first push lap, not his second, as was the case with Hamilton. 

We're seeing purple microsectors all over the place now, with a mix of medium and soft tyres in use. Hulkenberg goes third after an encouraging Friday, and Leclerc is on a hot lap, setting a session-best sector one. 

That's much more like it from Hamilton, and indicates that we may see drivers doing a push, cool, push strategy in qualifying. His 1m31.056s is 1.195s clear of the next best time. 

We said Hamilton's time wasn't massively impressive. Gasly, still on medium rubber, has returned to the top with a 1m32.251s time. But Hamilton is on an improved tour this time around. 

Out comes Lindblad. It's somewhat of a surprise he wasn't out sooner, given he missed all of FP2 with a reliability issue yesterday. 

Hamilton puts in a 1m32.283s effort, which is over half a second clear of Gasly, but way off the times set on Friday. 

On his initial tour, Gasly lays down a 1m32.860s, a time 0.805 clear of Colapinto. But here come the Ferraris on soft tyres.

Colapinto has now been joined on the track by Alpine team-mate Gasly. Both are on the medium tyres, gathering early data before the usual raft of qualifying simulations begin. 

Speaking of qualifying sims, Perez has fitted soft tyres to his Cadillac immediately. 

Adding to Norris's problems, is the fact that following China's DNS, one of his three battery packs for the season has gone in the bin. Should this one also be bound for the skip, he will have just one to last the remaining rounds of the season before taking a grid penalty. This early in the season, that is not something you would ideally want to worry about. 

The music had played, and we're getting ready for FP3...unless you're Norris...then you have a bit more time on your hands, unfortunately. 

Verstappen was a particularly unhappy customer on Friday, complaining about most every aspect of his Red Bull, which ended the day on the fringes of the top 10, and with pace that puts him in serious danger of a Q2 exit. With Hadjar only in 15th, Red Bull had plenty of work to do overnight. We'll find out shortly if any answers were uncovered. 

Piastri will be seriously worried by the problems on Norris's side, given his record so far this season of not completing a single lap in a grand prix. The Australian will have his fingers and toes crossed that no problems appear on his MCL40. 

Conditions are much the same as they were yesterday, with the sun shining down on the iconic Suzuka layout and minimal wind. However, gusts on entry into The Spoon corner were catching drivers out yesterday, with numerous offs at the curve. 

That point of the track will be crucial in qualifying, with the exit leading directly into one of two straightline mode zones, where battery energy will be deployed. A small error there will carry a high price.