LIVE: F1 Japanese GP updates - Kimi Antonelli takes pole as Max Verstappen out in Q2

ANTONELLI ON POLE POSITION

F1 legend Jean Alesi conducting the top three interviews. "It was a good one, a clean one," says Antonelli.

Has to be said that the wolf-themed livery looks good on the Mercedes, but on the drivers' overalls it looks like a terrible laundry shunt has occurred.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Hamilton doesn't improve, either. Nor does Hadjar. Gasly does a 1m29.661 which puts him P7 ahead of Hadjar. Bortoleto improves to 1m30.274 but, despite finding the best part of four tenths, he stays P9. Lindblad rounds out the top 10 with a 1m30.319s.

What can Leclerc do? 1m29.405s, splitting the McLarens in P4 and pushing Norris down to the third row.

So it will be Antonelli first to clock a timed lap in these final runs. Green micro-sectors in S1 but he's locked up into the hairpin...

Antonelli doesn't improve. Neither does Russell. Nor Piastri. Norris? No...

Antonelli fastest in the opening Q3 runs with 1m28.778s, 0.298s quicker than Russell's 1m29.076s. That's a marked improvement from George.

Piastri and Norris P3 and P4 with 1m29.132s and 1m29.409s respectively – faster than both Ferraris, 1m29.434s (Leclerc) and 1m29.567s (Hamilton).

Then another half-second gap to Hadjar (1m29.978s), Gasly (1m30.294s) and Bortoleto (1m30.648s). Lindblad hasn't set a timed lap in Q3 yet.

So that's Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto and Carlos Sainz out in Q2.

Besides Verstappen – good luck to those interviewing him in the 'pen' afterwards, lest they be banned from future press conferences – this will sting for Hulkenberg, Lawson and Colapinto, both of whom had teammates go through to Q3. Pierre Gasly was P7, just a tenth off Norris's McLaren.

VERSTAPPEN OUT!

Arvid Lindblad does a 1m30.109s to annexe the final spot in the top 10, pushing Verstappen down to P11.

Up at the front, Antonelli goes P1 with 1m29.048s.

Verstappen PBs his way around to do a 1m30.262s, leapfrogging Hadjar to go P9 – but only temporarily because Isack does a 1m30.104s.

What can Hulkenberg do? No, something has goone wrong for him in the last sector and he doesn't improve.

Russell goes round in 1m29.767s on his new softs, which isn't good enough to beat Piastri.

But Leclerc has found something – and how! P1 with 1m29.303s is 0.148s quicker than Piastri, and 0.464s ahead of Russell. Let's see what Antonelli can do on his new softs...

Antonelli, Russell, Leclerc and Hamilton all did their first push laps on used tyres, so it's no surprise to see Piastri slotting in to P1 with a 1m29.451s on new tyres. Bortoleto, also on new softs, P5 with 1m30.093s and Norris goes P4 with 1m29.795s.

Q2 begins. Based on what we've just seen, barring disasters for Mercedes/Ferrari/McLaren, this is going to be a question of whether the Audi drivers can deliver again, and whether the Red Bull drivers can find some improvement because it's quite tight in that space between half a second and a full second behind the leaders.

Well well well, it all got very tasty in that battle to not be P17 and P18. Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto just managed to list themselves out of the drop zone with their final laps – Colapinto's 1m30.931s, 1.016s off P1, was the threshold.

So that means Alex Albon, who improved but not quite enough with a 1m31.088s, out in P17. Oliver Bearman a surprise elimination in P18 with 1m31.090s.

"You probably don't want to known but you can probably guess," Alex Albon is told when he asks where he is slow relative to Sainz. More to this than meets the eye...

Clearly the Cadillacs and Aston Martins don't have it in them to escape Q1, it's more a question of the remaining two places for those drivers who are in that hinterland of 1.5s off the frontrunning pace.

Yes, a personal best for Antonelli in sector one, purple in sector two, and another PB in sector three... 1m30.035s. That's 0.043s faster than Leclerc. More to come, then...

Interestingly, George Russell could 'only' summon a 1m30.631s which slots him into P5 ahead of Hadjar... but not for long because Hamilton goes 1m30.628s to leapfrog him. And then Nico Hulkenberg does a 1m30.542s!

Russell complaining of oversteer on the radio.

Piastri is first of the usual frontrunners to essay a push lap. 1m30.438s for P1. Then Lando Norris arrives with a 1m30.676s – P2 until Lewis Hamilton demotes him with a 1m30.628s.

Then Charles Leclerc goes P1 with a 1m30.078s. Isack Hadjar pushes Norris down into what's now P5 with a 1m30.662s.

Now we await the Mercs...

For those who can't live without advance notice of who is presenting the Pirelli Pole Position Award, today it will be sumo wrestler Kotozakura.

Ah, the noble art of sumo! This author is old enough to remember when Channel 4 in the UK used to carry coverage of sumo wrestling in the early evening, instead of godawful teen soaps and reality TV shows.

Channel 5 is even worse, of course. Mrs C informed me during my absence during the Australia-China double-header that it was showing a programme entitled Britain's Best Mattress. As Alan Partridge would say, "Monkey Tennis"...

It's been quite a fraught season for McLaren. The team insisted yesterday that there would be no repeat of the battery problems which meant neither car started the Chinese GP. Boss Andrea Stella was admant, in fact.

Not Adam Ant - that would make him a Goody Two Shoes...

But I digress. There was more woe for Lando Norris this morning when his entire ERS pack had to be changed, to he missed the first 40 minutes of FP3.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

THE CROWN JOULES

Don't forget there's a new limitation on how much energy can be recovered through the lap in qualifying. Eight megajoules is the maximum, the reason being to reduce the amount of super clipping drivers will do through the lap – because, let's not make any bones about it, super clipping does nothing for the spectacle, especially when viewed from onboard cameras.

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