Antonelli heads Russell in dominant final Japan practice session for Mercedes

SUZUKA, Japan, March 28 - Kimi Antonelli led teammate George Russell in a Mercedes one-two in final practice for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, while reigning Formula One champion Lando Norris was struck by further reliability issues at McLaren.

Antonelli, coming off his maiden Formula One win at the last race in China, lapped the 5.8 km Suzuka circuit in one minute, 29.362 seconds, with championship leader Russell 0.254 seconds adrift.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was third, 0.867 seconds off the pace, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri fourth, more than a second behind Antonelli's time.

Lewis Hamilton, unhappy with the balance of his Ferrari on Friday, was fifth fastest while Norris posted the sixth-fastest time despite spending more than half the session watching the action on screen with his car up on struts in the garage.

McLaren endured a bruising weekend in China where neither car took the start in the main Sunday race.

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh for Audi, ahead of Max Verstappen's Red Bull and Gabriel Bortoleto in the other Audi.

Frenchman Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for Alpine.

The practice pace displayed by Mercedes marks them out as favourites for pole position in qualifying later on Saturday.

Russell and Antonelli, separated by four points at the top of the overall standings, have locked out the front row in every qualifying session so far this season.

They are on course to hand Mercedes their first season-opening hat-trick of one-two finishes since 2019.

Qualifying in Suzuka will be run to slightly different energy management rules with the sport's governing FIA reducing the amount of energy teams are allowed to harvest from their power units to recharge their batteries.

The change is aimed at allowing drivers to push harder. REUTERS