Williams driver Carlos Sainz will start the Japanese Grand Prix from 15th after being handed a three-place drop for blocking Lewis Hamilton in qualifying.

Hamilton was among the quickest drivers on Saturday in the third practice session ahead of qualifying. Lando Norris of McLaren led with a time of 1 minute, 27.965 seconds. Teammate Oscar Piastri was only 0.026 behind. Hamition was in sixth, 0.559 behind Norris.

Lewis Hamilton and his new race engineer were involved in another bizarre exchange, as the Formula 1 champion was left bewildered at the Japanese Grand Prix. Hamilton's Ferrari move has not got off to the best of starts, with the seven-time world champion having only scored one point from his opening two full-length races in red.

Lewis Hamilton acknowledged his final laps in qualifying were “not good enough” as he qualified a lowly eighth for the Japanese Grand Prix. In the end, he was only eighth-fastest – behind both Mercedes drivers and Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar – and was three-tenths off Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in fourth.