Antonelli Gains Momentum Ahead of Suzuka Qualifying

Following his maiden F1 win in China, Kimi Antonelli has continued to dominate at the Japanese Grand Prix, outpacing his Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the final practice session before qualifying at Suzuka. McLaren had initially caught attention by topping the timesheet with Oscar Piastri on Friday, but championship leaders Mercedes reasserted their superiority on Saturday morning. Antonelli set an impressive benchmark time of 1:29.362, putting him 0.254s ahead of Russell. According to Sky Sports F1's Karun Chandhok, "The evidence so far suggests an intra-Mercedes battle for pole, with Antonelli looking like the favorite heading into qualifying." Mercedes have taken both pole positions and victories in F1's new era, and their dominance was particularly pronounced on Saturday morning at Suzuka. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc regained third place but was 0.867s behind Antonelli, with everyone else over a second off the pace. Meanwhile, McLaren's Piastri slipped to fourth, and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth in the second Ferrari. World champion Lando Norris, who faced unreliability issues with his car's Mercedes power unit, eventually finished sixth fastest after a swift change of ERS unit. The bigger concern for Norris is that he has now used three energy stores, and using one more will trigger an automatic grid penalty. Mercedes' pace advantage was clear, with the other top teams ending up closer to Audi, who impressed with seventh and ninth places. Red Bull struggled, with Max Verstappen 1.5s off the pace and complaining about gear shifts. The only incident of note was Haas' Oliver Bearman half-spinning his car, and Aston Martin finished behind Cadillac at the foot of the order.