George Russell went fastest in the first free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix, beating Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 26 milliseconds.
It was also a strong start to proceedings at Suzuka for Lando Norris, with the McLaren driver third quickest in FP1 ahead of his own team-mate, Oscar Piastri.
Norris, Russell, the Racing Bulls and Charles Leclerc all ran wide at Spoon Curve in what was a broadly quiet hour of running.
Alex Albon grazed the wall on the outside of Degner 2, but did not appear to sustain much damage — if any — to his Williams.
He also had a spin at the final chicane after contact with Sergio Perez, necessitating a front wing change after a clumsy incident between the pair.
It will be investigated by the stewards post-session, along with Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson, who were blocking each other.
Rookie runner Jak Crawford was last on the timing board, just beaten by Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin.
Check out the full results from FP1 at the Japanese Grand Prix below!
Result Free practice 1 - Japanese
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Tyre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results are being loaded... | ||||
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look ahead to this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. Jonathan Wheatley's Audi exit is a key talking point, as is whether Max Verstappen's critical comments are damaging F1.
Rather watch the podcast? Then click here!
Get the latest F1 news from RacingNews365 directly in your Google feed! Click on the link below and you’ll see your favourite F1 website appearing even more often. That way, you’ll never miss any news, analyses, interviews, or exclusives.
Follow RacingNews365 on GoogleMost read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!