Saturday could not have gone much better for Mercedes at the Japanese Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton led Valtteri Bottas in a  front-row lockout for the Silver Arrows before Ferrari's latest strategic meltdown left Sebastian Vettel displaced in the midfield battle. Vettel will start eighth after a decision to fit intermediates at the start of Q3 fell flat. It might have been worse for Vettel, who was ninth-fastest in the session, but jumps up a place due to Esteban Ocon's three-place grid drop for a red-flag infraction in FP3. Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc also benefit from Ocon's penalty. Max Verstappen starts third in Suzuka, with supersoft tyres potentially giving him an advantage...
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