Lando Norris led the way in FP1 of F1 Japanese GP ahead of George Russell and Charles Leclerc to make it three different cars in the Top 3.
It was a hectic FP1 session in F1 Japanese GP at Suzuka where front right graining became a talking point by the end of the running. There were moments for multiple cars, some on the gravel, while a lot of them went through understeer blips in the corners before managing to catch it.
Even McLaren’s Lando Norris had one in the final corner before setting the best lap of 1m28.549s to top FP1 session to start the F1 Japanese GP weekend, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with the Brit retaining his consistent run so far.
Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton was fourth ahead of the Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda, with just 0.107s separating the two to start the new association. They ran the soft tyres mostly in a different strategy to other teams around in terms of tyre usage.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso ended up best of the rest in seventh from Visa Cash App RB’s Isack Hadjar, with Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli in ninth and Williams’ Carlos Sainz rounding the Top 10. The Italian had a lock-up into the grass at the hairpin towards the end of the session.
At the same time, Sainz had to take the run-off route in the penultimate corner towards the end of the running but managed to finish ahead of teammate Alexander Albon, who was 11th. The Thai racer also had a grass moment at the hairpin before Antonelli had his off.
Alpine’s sub Ryo Hirakawa was 12th in a good show replacing Jack Doohan in FP1, with Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson in a good space in 13th. Hirakawa’s teammate Pierre Gasly was 14th ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who did not stitch a good lap to be so down the order.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was 16th after his snap ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg with Haas’ Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon in 18th and 19th after a late soft tyre run on a revised floor. Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the 20 runners.
