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It has been another storming day for Red Bull and McLaren will be greatly encouraged, but Mercedes and Ferrari will be biting their nails after what they've seen in qualifying.

Yuki Tsunoda is in a rich vein of form at the moment, with his third top 10 qualifying finish in a row, and he has just told Sky Sports that he's targeting a podium finish tomorrow!

Carlos Sainz told Sky Sports of how he was unsure of how tomorrow's race will go.

'Especially after FP3 we saw we didn't have the pace as FP1 and we thought it was going to be a tougher weekend.
'We actually made a good step in qualy, it's just Lando two tenths in front for P3 is too big for Suzuka, normally the gaps are very, very tight. Two tenths was too much,
'But I did some very good laps in this qualy and I was happy with my performance. It's still a track where the Ferrari is not the fastest car around and we know why.
'We have been better on the race pace this weekend but I don't know if it will be good or bad. I hope we can fight them [McLaren] in the race because in qualy it was impossible.
'In the race it would be nice to have a fight for the podium between Lando, me, Fernando, Merc behind. It should be an interesting battle for the podium, I think the Red Bulls are unfortunately in a different league around here.'

After so many great signs this weekend, Mercedes couldn't produce the goods when it mattered.

Hamilton will start seventh tomorrow, with Russell ninth. That's well below where they expected to be. They looked as if they could lock out the second row!

Well done to Norris for qualifying third, with his McLaren team-mate Piastri in sixth.

'We need to have a good first lap because it's quite difficult to overtake in Suzuka with only one DRS zone.
'It's much more difficult this wekend in Suzuka for sure. But you neevr know. We need to have a good position. With this kind of car, it's important to have free air.'
[Asked about Leclerc: 'Charles was P2 last week. Today he is one-tenths of Carlos. He knows perfectly where he missed something. The season is long and I'm not worried at all by the situation.'

Max Verstappen has been unwinding by slurping down his obligatory Red Bull. I wonder if he actually likes the drink.

There have been some suggestions amid the Christian Horner scandal that Verstappen could depart Red Bull, especially with a space opening up at Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton moves to Ferrari for the 2025 season.

What nobody has talked about: would he miss his free Red Bulls, or be relieved to see the back of them?

I'm not a huge energy drink fan personally.

Hello again!

Thanks for bearing with us in that brief break - we're officially back and giving you our full attention. And we come with a wonderful gift - Henry Clark's report from Suzuka.

It's a front-row lock-out for Red Bull as Max Verstappen comes in first, with Sergio Perez 0.66s behind.

Norris, Sainz, Alonso, Piastri, Hamilton, Leclerc, Russell, and Tsunoda all follow in that order.

'It was quite close at the end. Overall, this track is very sensitive with the tyres with the tarmac being really aggressive.
'Overall, very good day, good starting position for tomorrow and tomorrow is what counts. It's great as a team to be P1 and P2 and hopefully we can keep that going.
'Some great fan support here!'

'We've been really close all weekend. When you are in that little margins, anything can make a difference. I didn't make a great exit on the lap, that could have been the difference.'