Kimi Antonelli continues to carry the momentum of his maiden F1 win from China at the Japanese Grand Prix after outpacing Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the final practice session before Qualifying at Suzuka.
After McLaren had caught the eye by topping the timesheet with Oscar Piastri on Friday, championship leaders Mercedes reasserted their expected superiority over the field on Saturday morning – and this time to a dominant degree.
It was Antonelli, and not early points leader Russell, who was the quicker of the two Silver Arrows again with the 19-year-old’s impressive benchmark time of 1:29.362 enough to put him 0.254s clear of his more-experienced British team-mate.
“On the evidence we have seen so far, it looks like an intra-Mercedes battle for pole,” said Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok.
“Antonelli has looked really good and so far, you’d have to say heading into qualifying, he’s got to be the favourite.”
Mercedes have taken both pole positions and both race victories so far in F1’s new era of rules and their dominance was especially pronounced on Saturday morning around the acrobatic Suzuka layout.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc restored Ferrari to third place after a tricky Friday for the Italian team but he was 0.867s back on Antonelli. Everyone else was one second or more off the pace.
McLaren’s Piastri slipped to fourth, with Lewis Hamilton fifth in the second Ferrari. Next came world champion Lando Norris, whose compromised start to the weekend continued after more unreliability from his car’s Mercedes power unit forced another ERS battery pack change in his McLaren.
The team had feared it was “unlikely” that Norris – delayed by a hydraulics leak from the car on Friday – would get out in the session at all, but a swift change of ERS unit saw Norris take to the track for he final 26 minutes of action. The Briton eventually finished sixth fastest, 0.2s behind team-mate Piastri, after 13 laps.
But the bigger consequence for Norris is that he has now already used three energy stores in as many race weekends this season – the use of one more will trigger an automatic grid penalty.
Underlining Mercedes’ comfortable pace advantage at the front, the other members of F1’s ‘big four’ ended final practice far closer on pace to the Audi team, who impressed to take seventh with Nico Hulkenberg and ninth with Gabriel Bortoleto.
Indeed, the quickest Audi finished ahead of the quickest Red Bull, whose struggles with the RB22 show no sign of abating.
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Max Verstappen struggles with his Red Bull continue during Practice three at the Japanese Grand Priz.
Max Verstappen lagged 1.5s off the pace in eighth place and complained about his car’s gear shifts over team radio. Isack Hadjar was 11th, one place behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, with Red Bull seemingly having a fight on their hands with the midfield to guarantee themselves berths into Q3 for the top 10 in qualifying.
Haas’ Oliver Bearman was involved in the only incident of note during the session when he half spun his Haas car coming out of Spoon curve. The Briton, who has scored points in both grands prix and the Shanghai Sprint so far in 2026, wound up 15th fastest just behind team-mate Esteban Ocon.
Aston Martin again finished behind new entrant Cadillac at the foot of the order, the only team to be four seconds off the pace.
Sky Sports F1’s Japanese GP schedule
Saturday March 28
5am: Japanese GP Qualifying build-up*
6am: JAPANESE GP QUALIFYING*
8am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
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A look back at the wildest moments caught on the onboard camera at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Sunday March 29
4.30am: Japanese GP build-up – Grand Prix Sunday*
6am: THE JAPANESE GRAND PRIX*
8am: Japanese GP reaction – Chequered Flag*
9am: Ted’s Notebook*
*Also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is at the iconic Suzuka Circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
