More replays showing that Ricciardo had his focus on his left, scoping out the position of Stroll, which meant that he missed Albon coming up on his right just before the collision.

Both Albon and Ricciardo’s cars are now being cleared away before the wall be repaired. The rest of the field is back in pitlane as we await the all clear to be signalled.

1/53: Verstappan gets away cleanly and leads but we’ve already got drama! Albon has gone into a wall! So has Ricciardo!

We’ve got a red flag. Both drivers are walking away under their own power and look to be ok.

Replays show that Albon got away well in 14th but clipped the outside rear wheel of Ricciardo in what looks to be a racing incident – can’t really blame either.

Lights Out! The Japanese Grand Prix is underway in Suzuka!

Formation lap is complete, we’re almost set to go in Japan!

The top four are all on medium tyres but Fernando Alonso will start on the softs in fifth, looking to make up ground on those ahead of him early on with an aggresive approach.

He’s the only driver in the top 11 to start on something other than mediums, with 12 through 17th also starting on the softs.

Track temperature is apparently hitting 40 degrees just before lights out, the same levels it was hitting five months ago during the 2023 season. That’s going to add the wear and tear on the tyres.

Charles Leclerc will race with a special helmet in tribute to Jules Bianchi this weekend, marking ten years since the Frenchman – Leclerc’s godfather – had an accident at Suzuka that ultimately led to his tragic passing seven months later.

The Japanese national anthem is played as we inch closer to lights out in Suzuka, with hometown favourite Yuki Tsunoda will start from tenth on the grid today

“I felt a little pressure coming into this weekend after our strong performance in Australia, but I’d say it’s good pressure and I’m very happy I was able to get into Q3 in front of my family, friends and home crowd,” he said after qualifying.

“The qualifying itself wasn’t as easy as we expected, but overall, as a team we did a fantastic job. I’m continuing to learn how to maximise the car and its setup to extract the best out of it, and without everyone, the engineers and mechanics, on track and at the factory, supporting me, I wouldn’t have achieved this result and I’m very appreciative of them all.

“Daniel [Ricciardo] also did a great job which means there’s definitely potential to score points, maybe even more than one, so we’ll do our best. The first step is done, and the second one is top 10 in the race tomorrow, which I haven’t achieved here yet, but we’ll put it together and try to have a perfect race!”

Inevitably, there’s plenty of off-track drama bubbling along in the background of today’s race, led by the ongoing saga surrounding Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner.

Here’s Giles Richards’ look at some of the key talking points.

Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack is grabbed by the Sky Sports coverage, says that the team are optimists when it comes to Alonso looking to crash the podium and that we just might see them pursue something “different” to engineer that.

They then move over to Frédéric Vasseur of Ferari, who emphasises how it will be important to have a decent start.

Today shapes as an incredibly intriguing race on the tactical front, with no real clear optimal strategy.

It’s probably a two-stopper, but what kind of two-stopper? A lot of the teams have brought two sets of hard tyres for the race but this doesn’t include the Red Bulls, Ferraris, or Aston Martins -- meaning that we could see a battle of teams with varying strategies of when and how often they use their hards.

It’s around 23 degrees Celsius – which I think is around 70 in freedom units -- in Suzuka with very little chance of precipitation, so that should remove one potential pratfall that teams need to navigate.

One unexpected attendee in Japan is Toto Wolff, who has been compelled to head to Suzuka in response to Mercedes early season woes.

“I had planned not to come to Japan because there’s so much on back in Europe, things to do, but then I felt not coming to Japan was the wrong choice,” he said.

And on the subject of Wolff, former world champion Sebastian Vettel has hinted he could be tempted to make a comeback to F1 after confirming he’d been having conversations with the Mercedes team principal amongst others.

And Hamilton, the driver he’d ostensibly be replacing at Mercedes, seems a fan of the idea.

Logan Sargeant is having some kind of month. If you’re just catching up, the American had his car effectively taken off him and given to teammate Alexander Albon by Willaims a fortnight ago at Albert Park after the latter crashed his car in practice, with Albon subsequently finishing outside the points.

However, a shortage of spare parts and the lack of a backup available until Miami means that Albon will retain Sargeant’s chassis in Japan as his teammate races on the repaired chassis that Albon broke in Australia. These were chassis that, alongside the rest of the car, Sargeant promptly put into the wall half an hour into FP1.

That damage, however, wasn’t of the sort that couldn’t be repaired and the 23-year-old was able to qualify in 19th.

“After what happened yesterday and only getting a few laps in FP3 this morning, it was a pretty good turnaround,” he said. “We put the car in a good place for qualifying considering the limited amount of running and made the right decisions. I don’t think there was a lot left on the table.

“I’m pretty happy with the way I drove but we’re missing a little bit this weekend as a team in terms of pace. Tomorrow will be a bit of a degradation race and how we manage that in Sector 1 will be key. We’ll try to have a good start, manage the race and hopefully that leaves us in a decent spot.”

And again, with all of this going on, it’s probably a good time to check in again on Logan Sargeant Meme Watch.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that Verstappen loves racing in Japan, given that the Red Bull thrives at a frenetic figure-eight circuit where it does a better job than most of protecting its tyres on a challengingly abrasive surface.

Of course, Verstappen isn’t alone in holding great affection for this circuit. I myself love it because it’s been around long enough for me to drive around it in F-1 World Grand Prix on the Nintendo 64, ensuring it will always hold a special place in my heart.

But this circuit has created far more legendary moments that just me going coast-to-coast with a digital version of ‘Driver Williams’ – it’s traditional place as the final race of the season creating iconic moments and tussles that have left an indelible mark on F1 folklore. Here’s Giles Richards on why this course sets hearts racing.

Red Bull has put in place their first set of upgrades coming into this race, including new cooling inlets, and updates to the car’s floor and brakes. Here’s what Verstappen, hoping to join Michael Schumacher as the only driver to win three straight races here, had to stay after putting them to good use to set the pace in qualifying.

“Overall, in qualifying the laps have been very nice and it was a great result for the team,” he said.

“In the last lap I tried to push a bit more and I was gaining quite nicely in sector one, but ran out of tyres at the end so lost a bit of time which was a shame. We have to work on our long runs as we have not been fully happy with these and still feel like we can work to control the balance of the car a bit more.

“It wasn’t perfect, but to still be on pole on a lap that I felt like could have been better, is great. We made some good changes within the car and I really enjoyed Sector 1; around here it is really fun to drive and the car is improving every year, especially in the high speed.

“All in all, the team has a front row start, which is a perfect start to the race tomorrow, but I expect it to be very competitive. It is great to be here, the support is always amazing and hopefully we can give the fans a good race.”

Here’s how Giles Richards saw qualifying yesterday.

How the grid will line up in Japan

Preamble

Lando Norris knows the reality of trying to chase down the Red Bulls on the front of the grid today but, as he told Giles Richards, he’s not afraid of Verstappen.