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Lawson just creeps in, 15th place, only 0.867s off Piastri. Out in Q1: Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Ocon, Doohan and Stroll.

Hadjar’s gone up to 12th, his team mate will probably be last to take the chequered flag.

Alonso goes to 11th temporarily, that puts Doohan in the drop zone. Doohan is out, he’s missed the cut.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli produces a badly-needed fastest final sector time to go eighth, 0.281s off the pace.

Piastri improves the fastest time to a 1’27.687.

Hadjar is struggling, down to 19th: “Mate the issue is still here, I can’t believe it.”

Lawson leaves the pits to begin his final run with only two minutes remaining – cutting it very fine.

Drop zone so far: Lawson, Alonso, Antonelli, Hadjar and Stroll.

Hamilton fell into the drop zone but moves safe with a lap on softs which leaves him four tenths of a second off Leclerc.

A big improvement for Jack Doohan leaves him only a tenth of a second off Pierre Gasly. He needed that.

Hadjar tells his team: “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I just can’t focus.” He’s down in 17th.

Piastri beats Norris by nine hundredths and Russell get in between them again, just five hundredths off Piastri. Verstappen is fourth, two-tenths down, but complaining his front tyres aren’t gripping up.

An encouraging start for Yuki Tsunoda who is four tenths of a second off Norris on his first lap. Will this be the first time this year Red Bull get both cars through Q1?

Most drivers on soft drivers so far but Lewis Hamilton has opted for the mediums. Lando Norris sets the initial pace with a 1’28.233, a third of a second up on Charles Leclerc, followed by Alexander Albon and Lewis Hamilton.

The slowest five drivers across practice who will take part in qualifying were Bortoleto, Ocon, Bearman, Stroll and Doohan. Will all five escape Q1?

That could well prove to be a factor as we’ve had six red flags so far this weekend in practice, four due to grass fires at the edge of the track. The FIA has been watering the grass since practice in the hope of preventing any further conflagrations.

An important point to note ahead of qualifying – the stewards have issued four warnings to drivers for jumping the pit lane queue in practice but have also told them the penalty for doing the same in qualifying could be tougher.

The Racing Bulls duo fell short of their Friday pace in final practice. If they can rediscover it, they could give Ferrari and even Red Bull some headaches.

McLaren have looked like the team to beat so far having headed all three practice sessions so far. George Russell was the only driver to get within four-tenths of a second of them in qualifying, and will be eager to repeat his Shanghai incursion onto the front row.

Qualifying for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix is coming up next.

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