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It was once again the Mercedes team that dominated in Suzuka this morning.

Kimi Antonelli secured his second Formula One pole position in front of the passionate Japanese fans, while his teammate George Russell did not sound too confident throughout the hour.

The 19-year-old put in two laps in the final stages of qualifying that would have been good enough for pole, and despite Russell’s struggles, P2 for him equals a great day for Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc did look to challenge Antonelli’s time in his final run, but a slight mistake meant that fourth was the best the Monégasque driver could do. Spoon Curve was once again the corner causing problems, which we saw a lot of during the free practice sessions, and this is where Leclerc’s hopes of slipping into pole position fell away after a big snap of oversteer.

Despite McLaren’s difficult start to the season and even a difficult start to this weekend, the team may not be walking away feeling entirely deflated, as Lando Norris achieved P5, his highest qualifying position so far this year, and Oscar Piastri managed to jump the Ferraris and slot himself into P3. The question is: will the team finally have two reliable cars for tomorrow’s race and make it through to the end of the Grand Prix?

A driver who will not be walking away happy today is Max Verstappen, who didn’t make it into Q3 and had to settle for P11. Long gone are the days of Verstappen’s dominance, with Red Bull not looking to threaten the podium places at all at the moment. These new regulations may not favour the drivers who like to race on the edge, with the clipping and dramatic energy changes making these cars unpredictable to drive, which at the moment seems to be unsettling not just Verstappen but many of the other drivers.

The team that is still hardest done by due to these new regulations are Aston Martin, with Lance Stroll and new father Fernando Alonso stuck in the bottom two positions. The only team that Aston Martin has managed to beat in qualifying on pure pace this year is the newbies, Cadillac, but for this weekend, it wasn’t to be for the team from Silverstone.

Other people who might be feeling a bit disappointed today are Ollie Bearman, who qualified in 18th, both Williams drivers in 16th and 17th and Lewis Hamilton in 6th.

It’s once again another early start for the race tomorrow, and I will be here bright and early, ready to provide live updates on the action from lights out to the chequered flag.