Max Verstappen led the way in FP3 of F1 Japanese GP from teammate Sergio Perez, with George Russell in third.
It was much better FP3 in F1 Japanese GP in terms of weather as teams and drivers had their first long-run programme done to prepare for the grand prix. After the washout in FP2, they needed the one hour to get all the data in for Sunday’s strategy.
It was Red Bull 1-2 like FP1, with Max Verstappen (1m29.563s) heading FP3 of F1 Japanese GP from teammate Sergio Perez (1m29.832s). There wasn’t much complaints from both the drivers but both had troubles with their mirror which came lose during their run.
It didn’t hamper their pace as they were nicely ahead of the Mercedes pair, who looked to be in a better shape. George Russell was third in the order from Lewis Hamilton, where the latter ran first for most part and the latter was last for most part.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had the updates fitted to his car overnight to be fifth from McLaren’s Lando Norris who was forced to a second lap after a wide moment on the astro-turf, as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz slotted in seventh after a late run.
He dropped McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to eighth after the Australian too had the astro-turf wide moment in the same corner which also caught out Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll towards the end of the session.
The Top 10 was rounded by Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, where the latter wasn’t happy with his team’s run plan after he found himself only 10th. Williams’ Alexander Albon was 11th but didn’t sound too confident.
Stake F1 Team’s Valtteri Bottas felt good to be 12th from Visa Cash App RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, who had a spin early in the session at Turn 2. There was complaint from Alpine’s Esteban Ocon of bouncing, but he did well to be 14th from Stake’s Zhou Guanyu.
Haas’ Hulkenberg was 16th after a late soft tyre run from the other Alpine of Pierre Gasly, with Aston Martin’s Stroll only 18th in the order after setting his best time on the hard compound since he was unable to get a clean lap using the soft tyre.
Williams’ Logan Sargeant returned to action to be 19th after getting his car fixed up from FP1 crash, as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen ended up 20th. The Dane had an off moment at the hairpin during the start of the session.
It was only Gasly who took up new PU elements ahead of the FP3 session, with the Frenchman getting a second ICE, MGU-H, MGU-K and ES. Here’s details on PU elements: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Japanese%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20New%20PU%20elements%20for%20this%20Competition_0.pdf
Here’s what was said after Friday in F1 Japanese GP
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
