Norris has stepped on the throttle, though, and is reeling in the Red Bull.
Verstappen is responding accordingly: “Do you want me to push? Yes mate.”
Norris has carried on, for now.
It sounds a bit too obvious, doesn’t it. Adding the “to overtake Verstappen.” Hello Red Bull, are you listening?
“Box to overtake Verstappen,” Norris is told.
Here we go then. Is it a dummy call or is he really about to pit?
Tsunoda, meanwhile, is stuck behind Gasly in the fight for P12. He is someone you’d expect to pit early to try and find clear air.
Doohan has now done so, having been the only other soft-tyre runner other than Stroll. He comes out just ahead of the Canadian as they will both be looking to go to the end. It’s the fight to avoid last place, I’m afraid.
Lap 15 and all is quiet on the Suzuka front. This is basically going to be about who makes the first chess move and stops for hards. The undercut is going to be reasonably powerful.
You can start thinking about going to the end from here if you stop for hards right now.
Norris is now told there has been no sign of tyre graining on any compound, and it is expected to be a race dictated by thermal degradation instead.
That may well help him be a bit more attacking as he looks for a way to defeat Verstappen. He mainly has to keep the rear tyre temps under control rather than worry about the front tyres.
There’s real fury from Alex Albon over dodgy gear shifts, something he had been telling his Williams team about but which hasn’t been fixed.
He is still sitting pretty in ninth, though following Hadjar and with Bearman behind him.
Fastest lap for Norris after he had been holding station two seconds behind Verstappen. Piastri has since backed off as well, 1.5s behind his team-mate.
It is really just Russell that is challenging the car in front, which is still the Ferrari of Leclerc in fourth.
Stroll boxes after nine laps on those softs. Safe to say that hasn’t really worked, but I suppose he had to try something.
“There is possible rain lap 20, class one. Doesn’t change our plan,” McLaren’s race engineer Will Joseph tells his driver Lando Norris.
Well that is a tease, isn’t it. A light drizzle for one lap, but likely not enough to impact the race.
It is pretty much bone dry now, but the track surface has effectively been reset by that morning rain.
So, what does that do? The reduced level of rubber means Pirelli’s tyres are going to be more prone to graining and degrade quicker. It could push more drivers towards a two-stop, but it is a difficult circuit to overtake, so you would rather not give up track position.
I would still expect medium-hard to be the optimal strategy.
Norris is dropping back to 1.8s behind Verstappen. You’d imagine he can go quicker but is trying to keep his tyres under control in the Dutchman’s dirty air.
Piastri is not managing anything just yet, he is within DRS range of Norris and looking for an opening.
Lovely move by Sainz in the hairpin on Hulkenberg! Sainz is fighting back from 15th after being hit with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Hamilton in Q2. He actually lost that spot to Hulkenberg at the start, is now back where he started.
The Spaniard is still rewiring his brain to adjust his driving style to the Williams after four years of building up muscle memory driving the Ferrari.
“My upshifts are really bad again,” says Verstappen. He leads Norris by 1.1s, with Piastri another second behind.
Meanwhile Leclerc is being hounded by Russell, who is poised to try and find a way past for P4.
Antonelli locks up at the chicane and has to straightline it. Hopefully he didn’t damage his right-front tyre there.
As everyone holds station, that is fairly good news for Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time champ is the only frontrunner on hard tyres while everyone else is on mediums. He has not paid a price for that at the start and can now look at an extended stint on the more robust compound.
Tsunoda has moved past his rival Lawson for P13.
Doesn’t look like there are any positional changes in the top 10, actually. A well behaved opening lap, no incidents to note.
There has been some nice jousting between Gasly and Alonso for P11.
And we are off at Suzuka! A good start for Verstappen, he holds off Norris and Piastri into the fearsome Esses.
Most drivers are starting on mediums for what is expected to be a one-stopper, including everyone in the top six. Lewis Hamilton is the only exception there, bolting hards on to his Ferrari.
At the back of the grid, Bortoleto and Ocon are also on hards, Doohan and Stroll have gone for softs on the last row.
Just a minute to go until the start of the formation lap.
Who do you think will win this race, then?
Lando Norris: ‘It’s dried out a lot, the rain came less than expected. I have a bit of a wet patch on my grid spot, so not too happy about that!”
Christian Horner is speaking to F1 TV on the grid: “The McLarens are the dominant car at the moment, so to keep them behind is a hell of a job today. Is it a two or a one stop? That’s the big question. Clean air is always valuable at a track like this. It’s not the easiest track to overtake.”
Meanwhile the Japanese fans are out in force with their trademark creative hats. Yuki Tsunoda has been enjoying a wave of support as he gears up for his first race with Red Bull. He starts 15th after making a mistake in Q2, but his pace has been encouraging. Poignantly he starts right behind the driver he replaces on the grid, Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls.
“There was a lot of happiness when I crossed the line,” Verstappen said after clinching his pole with a Red Bull that really should not have been beating the two McLarens.
“I’ve had some really nice poles in other places but if you look at how our season started it was a surprise and that makes it a very special one.
“On the exit of Turn 1 into 2, six, seven, eight and then Spoon it was like: “Well I hope it’s going to stick’. But it did and when I crossed the line I could see my name pop up.
But Verstappen still cautioned that it will be a difficult race for him to win either in the dry or the wet, given McLaren’s superior race pace so far.
The expected rain has indeed come overnight, but it has since been drying up again. But even if we’re starting on slicks, the grip levels will have been reset.
There are still some pockets of rain heading towards the region, the FIA’s weather service anticipates there is a 20 percent chance of more rain arriving.
Nothing that can dampen the enthusiasm of the passionate Japanese fans, mind.
Fans at the circuit
Yesterday we witnessed one of F1’s great pole laps by Max Verstappen, who will start from the front for the fourth consecutive year.
He is joined by Lando Norris on the front row, followed by Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.
Good morning, konnichiwa. We’re gearing up for one of F1’s great races. The Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
