Norris names McLaren's closest rival after blistering Japanese GP start

Lando Norris has identified George Russell as McLaren's closest rivals after it set a blistering pace in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

In FP1, Norris continued his 100% record of being fastest in every opening practice session in 2025 with Russell in second place, about a tenth-and-a-half slower before he fell to sixth in FP2, albeit with his best time set on the hard tyres in the heavily-disrupted session that featured four red flags.

Norris was pipped by team-mate Oscar Piastri 0.049s for the fastest time in FP2, with Charles Leclerc even declaring McLaren to be on "another planet" at Suzuka. 

However, Norris feels the gaps between McLaren and those chasing are actually far closer than what practice showed, as he name-checked Russell as a threat to a third consecutive win to kick-off the season and a fourth in a row overall, something McLaren has not done since 2005 when it won six on the trot.

"It is pretty good, we're still in a good position, it was just tricky because of the wind," Norris explained.

"What makes a big difference, especially on a circuit like this when it is so quick and when you are on the limit for such a long time in the first sector, the tiniest bit of wind can really upset the car quite a lot.

"To be honest, everyone is struggling with a similar thing, but I feel like we are in a reasonable place, we've made some steps forward, but there are still things to try and improve for tomorrow. 

"I think we're still at the top, but George was very quick [in FP1], just as quick as us, so Mercedes is in a good place, and maybe Red Bull looks a little bit further off, but they have looked further off going into qualifying and then get closer again. 

"It was just a messy session, it was not the best example of where everyone was, and FP1 was maybe better as you had teams in order, but I still expect it to be close and a tough battle, but I hope its not and it is nice and easy for us. 

"But I'm sure Mercedes, and at least George, from today's showings will be challenging us."