Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have been the fastest in the first practice session of Formula 1 in Suzuka, Japan. Sebastian Vettel finished third and Alonso was sixth.
Webber was the first to break the silence in Suzuka in a very, very hot day. The Australian tried from the very beginning with the new chassis, after the fire of his car during the race in South Korea last week.
The first free practices always gives the chance to test drivers to get into the car of their teams, this time, only Heikki Kovalainen has tested the Caterham, replacing Charles Pic .
Also as usual in the Grand Prix of Japan, some drivers premiered a new helmet design. As is the case of Jenson Button (McLaren), with a helmet design that represents the Japanese flag, and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) that has a similar design to that of Button and it’s common for the German to change his helmet constantly.
30 minutes after login and failing a hour to go, Jules Bianchi lost control of his Marussia in Turn 9 and slammed into the barriers.
At 20 minutes left, and almost at the same time, Maldonado (Williams) and Van der Garde (Caterham) had to leave the session. The Williams lost his left rear wheel in the second sector and Van der Garde -in the same place that Jules Bianchi- has been off the track but has not hit against the protections as the French. As for Bianchi after the strong beat, the 24 yer-old was shown on camera putting ice in his left elbow.
The times were getting faster and therefore we could not see a key driver in a session that has ended well.
Results:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:34.157 | 19 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas | 1:34.487 | 19 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | 1:34.768 | 24 |
| 4 | Mark Webber | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | 1:34.787 | 20 |
| 5 | Felipe Massa | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:35.126 | 14 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:35.154 | 16 |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus F1 Team | 1:35.179 | 15 |
| 8 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus F1 Team | 1:35.364 | 17 |
| 9 | Sergio Pérez | Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes | 1:35.450 | 27 |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:35.635 | 19 |
| 11 | Jenson Button | Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes | 1:35.868 | 22 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber F1 Team | 1:35.900 | 18 |
| 13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:36.066 | 20 |
| 14 | Adrian Sutil | Sahara Force India | 1:36.165 | 19 |
| 15 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams F1 Team | 1:36.178 | 12 |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams F1 Team | 1:36.340 | 23 |
| 17 | Paul di Resta | Sahara Force India | 1:36.399 | 18 |
| 18 | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber F1 Team | 1:36.760 | 22 |
| 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham F1 Team | 1:37.595 | 22 |
| 20 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia F1 Team | 1:37.629 | 8 |
| 21 | Giedo Van der Garde | Caterham F1 Team | 1:38.025 | 15 |
| 22 | Max Chilton | Marussia F1 Team | 1:38.763 | 18 |
