Max Verstappen tops F1 Japanese GP final practice

Red Bull's Max Verstappen showed that he remains the man to beat at the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix, after topping the timesheets in the weekend's final practice session on Saturday.

Verstappen had also emerged fastest in Friday's only dry practice session, and despite complaining about the rear of his car towards the end of the hour, the Dutchman finished FP3 with a best time of 1:29.563, while teammate Sergio Perez underlined Red Bull's dominance by finishing second, 0.269s adrift of Verstappen.

Behind the front two came the twin Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, suggesting that the Silver Arrows look the best behind Red Bull this weekend.

Red Bull's closest challengers so far this season have been Ferrari, but the Scuderia had a disappointing session, with Carlos Sainz ending up seventh and Charles Leclerc only just creeping into the top ten behind RB's Yuki Tsunoda, who ended up an encouraging ninth in front of his home crowd.

Leclerc took to team radio immediately after the chequered flag to bemoan his lackluster session, criticizing his team's preparation for his low-fuel qualifying simulation runs.

The rest of the top ten was filled by Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso in fifth, with the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri ending the session with the sixth and eighth fastest times.(UNI)<>