The Latest Breaking News on 'A huge win for F1': Lewis Hamilton hails Las Vegas Grand Prix as 'better than most European tracks'

Verstappen led both of Friday's free practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix, ending the day 0.320 seconds clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and nearly half a second up on McLaren's Lando Norris.

The Dutchman punched in a 1m30.688s to stand atop the timing boards, having been bumped off the top following his opening run on soft tyres as the rest of the front-running pack waited until later in the session to clock their first times on softs.

Red Bull suffered a mysterious lack of performance at last weekend's Singapore race, which led to both drivers dropping out of qualifying in the second phase as neither Max Verstappen nor Sergio Perez could improve on their final Q2 laps.

Sainz ended Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s record winning streak in Singapore to back up his consecutive pole positions, while a delayed pitstop last weekend left Leclerc to finish fourth.

Most Formula 2 rookies would be happy to sit fifth in the standings with one round remaining, with one win and nine podiums to their name. But not Victor Martins. The self-effacing, ever-critical Frenchman claims his 2023 has been “average”, despite sitting as the best-performing first-year driver.

As the RB19s rolled out for FP1 on Friday, it swiftly became apparent that the cars had fallen out of their hitherto very wide operating window. Max Verstappen called his ride “undrivable” as he lacked confidence when hitting the brakes only to then turn in and find wayward cornering balance.

Most Formula 2 rookies would be happy to sit fifth in the standings with one round remaining, with one win and nine podiums to their name. But not Victor Martins. The self-effacing, ever-critical Frenchman claims his 2023 has been “average”, despite sitting as the best-performing first-year driver.

The two drivers combined to lead 48 laps in the #1 BMW M4 GT3 and were in the mix for the win late on, but settled in to collect a podium and seal the fate of the championship ahead of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

The Red Bull driver knew that Sunday would be a struggle after he qualified only 11th on the grid, insisting afterwards that he could “forget” challenging for victory.