Kiwi Brendon Hartley has produced a stunning qualifying effort to finish sixth place ahead of Sunday's Japan Grand Prix.
At his Honda team's home event, Hartley beat out both teammate Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel in a career-best qualifying performance.
Champion Lewis Hamilton was comfortably quickest in both practice sessions for the as the Mercedes driver piled the pressure on title rival Vettel of Ferrari.
Briton Hamilton, fastest ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas in first practice, lapped the 5.8-km Suzuka circuit even quicker in the later session, posting one minute, 28.217 seconds.
That was 0.833 seconds quicker than Vettel, who improved from fifth in the morning to third quickest in the second session but had no answer to Hamilton's pace.
"I really didn't know where we were going to stand alongside the Red Bulls and the Ferraris," the 33-year-old Briton said after the session. "But I just came here with the mindset, 'Okay I know where I want to get the car.'"
A little over half an hour into the 90-minute session, he had let out a whoop of delight over the team radio: "This track is awesome, I'm having the best day.
"(In) these new cars we're much faster than we were last year," he said explaining his radio transmission.
"...they don't make tracks like this any more."
Bottas, second again in the afternoon, could get no closer than 0.461 seconds of the Briton's best.
Hamilton, winner of five of the last six races, leads Vettel by 50 points in the standings with four races left after Japan.
Vettel hoped the Suzuka circuit would suit his car better than the last two races in Singapore and Russia to ignite his fading title hopes but on Friday's evidence the Mercedes pair will be hard to beat.
Vettel's afternoon effort, while quicker than his best attempt in the first 90 minutes, was still slower than Hamilton's morning benchmark, which the Briton had set on the less grippy soft tyres.
"Time will tell, I don't know," said the 31-year-old Vettel when asked if he thought the deficit to Hamilton could be bridged.
"We couldn't do that today but it doesn't matter what they do, we look at ourselves and try to get the best from our package."
Reuters
