The Suzuka weekend has unfolded unusually, with FP2 effectively being washed out by drizzle, which meant the teams spent most of FP3 on Saturday morning concentrating on long-run data gathering, rather than the typical qualifying simulation efforts.
In these, Verstappen trailed his team-mate Sergio Perez by an average of 0.122 seconds each time, while both were trumped by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on a similar stint-length to the tune of a 0.482s average advantage using the medium tyres that are expected to be the key compound for race strategy.
