Japanese Grand Prix qualifying - F1: Live timing and lap-by-lap updates as Max Verstappen looks to claim fourth consecutive pole position of the season to put Australia car troubles behind Red Bull

Henry Clark is Mail Sport's man on the ground for this weekend.

We're just minutes out from qualifying now and he has been posting on X, so do make sure to follow him.

Lewis Hamilton has been in a buoyant mood following uplifting signs from the Silver Arrows this weekend so far.

He claims this is the best the car has felt all year - although the previous races haven't been that hard to beat...

RB handed Ayumu Iwasa a debut at his home GP for the first couple of practice sessions and he has been lapping up the love from his home fans.

It's the same for Yuki Tsunoda, who has been receiving plenty of love from the F1 faithful.

These Prancing Horse fans were certainly jocular as they donned their favourite hats, but the mood won't be the same in the team's garage.

Sky Sports are reporting that Ferrari have struggled to adapt to the temperatures in Japan and could be fourth-quickest in this qualifying behind Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren.

In P3, Carlos Sainz recorded the seventh-fastest time and Charles Leclerc could only manage 10th - worse than Yuki Tsunoda of RB.

Sky Sports' Rachel Brookes said: 'Ferrari aren't as quick as we were expecting them this weekend. It seems like they are being affected by the warmer temperatures today - everyone was expecting it to be much cooler.

"It's around 19 degrees today and this has potentially caught them out slightly, with these warmer temperatures not working for them right now.'

Our reporter Henry Clark is out in Japan and has sent over this analysis of the third practice session... and it turns out it was rather turbulent for Red Bull!

'There were a lot of keen eyes on this morning's third and final practice session after the weather made yesterday's second practice somewhat of a damp squib.

'Out on track, Red Bull's Max Verstappen went quickest but it was not plain-sailing for the Dutchman.

'He complained of a vibrating mirror while Verstappen was also forced to take things into his own hands, quite literally, as he reached out of his cockpit to press down a piece of tape that had come loose on his car.

'Team-mate Sergio Perez was second-quickest despite complaining about drivability issues with his car.

'There were further encouraging signs for Mercedes with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton third and fourth-quickest respectively.'

Did you know that Oscar Piastri knows some Japanese?

He might be from Australia, but it turns out he's rather handy with the native language of this weekend's GP.

Back at the Australian GP, Max Verstappen's car failure meant he surrendered his nine0race winning streak.

That gave Carlos Sainz the chance to steal in and claim the top step on the podium after returning from appendicitis.

Neither of the Mercedes cars finished. It has been a dire start to the season for them. Can they recover this weekend?

Charles Leclerc was irate when the decision to send him out late for a second flying lap, giving him less time on the track.

A rainy second practice session left teams with little chance to test themselves so there was even more onus on a good third session, which Leclerc clearly felt the Scuderia didn't have!

Red Bull completed a 1-2 in the third practice session, with Max Verstappen coming out on top with a time of 1:29.563, ahead of Sergio Perez 0.269s behind. 

Mercedes had an encouraging session, with George Russell recording the third-best time ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fourth. If they can repeat that form in qualifying then Toto Wolff will be a happy man.

Good morning and welcome to Mail Sport's live coverage of qualifying for the Japanese GP in Suzuka. The first qualifying session is due to get underway at 3pm UK time to grab your popcorn, stick on your helmet, and do whatever you need to do to get in the mood for another cracker.