Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris topped the times for McLaren as four red flags, two caused by trackside grass fires, wreaked havoc with the second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday.
Carlos Sainz completed a double race distance for previously struggling Williams and pushed his Ferrari successor Lewis Hamilton off the top of the testing
Oscar Piastri won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and sent McLaren top of the constructors' standings in a race that finished with a virtual safety car after a penultimate lap collision between Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
World champion Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in dramatic style on Saturday.
Drivers returned to the pits, under a darkening sky, with engineers using torches in the garages before back-up generators came on and the session resumed about an hour later.
Norris's teammate Oscar Piastri, who spun off and finished ninth in his home race last Sunday after starting on the front row and challenging for the lead, has another good chance to rev up his season.
Lando Norris led a McLaren front row sweep in qualifying for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday
World champion Max Verstappen took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, stunning the McLarens with a late flying lap.
Lewis Hamilton smashed the Shanghai circuit lap record on his way to a stunning first sprint race pole for Ferrari in China on Friday.
McLaren are leading the constructor's championship but are only 29 points ahead of Ferrari, with Leclerc an obvious threat and team mate Carlos Sainz qualifying fifth and Mercedes' George Russell sixth.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday with the battle for the constructor's title going down to next weekend's Abu Dhabi season-ender
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc won the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday to become the first home winner
McLaren's Lando Norris took pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix sprint on Friday with Mercedes' George Russell denying the Formula One leaders a front row.
Lando Norris won the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday to deliver McLaren's first Formula One constructors' title since 1998
Mercedes' George Russell celebrated a surprise Austrian Grand Prix win on Sunday after Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen and McLaren's Lando Norris collided late in the race
Red Bull make changes to car after discussions with FIA
McLaren could clinch their first constructors' crown since 1998 on Sunday if they outscore Ferrari by 21 points at the Qatar F1 Grand Prix.
Red Bull are concerned about their constructors' title defence being weakened at a time when McLaren are emerging as a threat
Max Verstappen, who could seal his fourth successive championship on Saturday, will line up fifth on the starting grid
Leclerc was 11 seconds clear with seven laps to go and 8.3 ahead with five remaining as the massed ranks of 'tifosi' willed him on.
Lewis Hamilton will bring down the curtain on his Mercedes career in Abu Dhabi on Sunday as his past and future Formula One teams, McLaren and Ferrari, fight for a constructors' title to end years of waiting.
McLaren's Lando Norris dominated the Singapore Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday to take another chunk out of Max Verstappen's Formula One championship lead.
Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen followed up a Saturday sprint win with a statement pole position for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix, with McLaren's Lando Norris again alongside on the front row.
Red Bull have won 20 of the 21 races so far, another F1 record, and Verstappen has won in Abu Dhabi for the past three years. Both titles have already been clinched.
McLaren's Lando Norris hailed the best qualifying lap of his career after beating F1 leader Max Verstappen to pole position at the US Grand Prix.
The final phase of qualifying was halted, with only Piastri and Haas' Nico Hulkenberg having set times, when Sainz slammed backwards into the barriers at the final corner as he prepared to start his flying lap.
Verstappen, who had started alongside Norris on the front row, was leading by lap three and could then build a buffer and take control.
Charles Leclerc won the US Grand Prix in a Ferrari one-two with Carlos Sainz on Sunday as Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen dealt Lando Norris a significant setback in their title battle.
The win was a first for Ferrari in Mexico since 1990 and fourth of Carlos Sainz's career.
Lando Norris roared to his second successive pole position, and third in four races, in a McLaren front row sweep with team mate Oscar Piastri
Red Bull's Max Verstappen dealt Lando Norris a shattering blow in their Formula One title battle by winning a wet and chaotic Sao Paulo Grand Prix from 17th on the grid.
The pole was the 26th of Charles Leclerc's career, and third of the season.
Lando Norris put McLaren on pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday
Verstappen took pole position for the Saudi Arabian Formula One Grand Prix on Friday with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualifying alongside on the front row.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen equalled Ayrton Senna's record of eight pole positions in a row.
Lewis Hamilton shed pent-up tears of joy after ending a 945-day wait for a win with a record ninth British Grand Prix victory in front of his home fans on Sunday.
World champion Max Verstappen took the first pole position of the Formula One season in Bahrain on Friday.
Mercedes driver George Russell has been disqualified and lost his Belgium Grand Prix win on Sunday, after his car was found to be underweight, and his teammate Lewis Hamilton was promoted to first place.
Max Verstappen won Formula One's first Chinese Grand Prix in five years on Sunday.
Red Bull's Verstappen, who had been on pole at Zandvoort every year since the circuit returned in 2021 and has yet to be beaten there, will still line up alongside the Briton on the front row.
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