Japanese GP: Tsunoda closes in on Verstappen as McLaren and Merc vie for top honours in FP1

All eyes were on Yuki Tsunoda as the Japanese driver made his Red Bull debut in FP1 at Suzuka, and he was only a tenth down on Max Verstappen.

Lando Norris set the pace ahead of George Russell and Charles Leclerc, with the Red Bull team-mates fifth and sixth.

From balance issues to P1, Lando Norris quickest in FP1

The drivers ventured out of the pit lane with all eyes on the Red Bull line-ups as Yuki Tsunoda contested his first practice session as a Red Bull Racing driver, with Liam Lawson returning to Racing Bulls. The big question was, could Tsunoda grab a first practice top-ten for the second RB21?

Oliver Bearman was the first driver out but the ripple of applause from the expectant crowd was for Tsunoda, in an RB21 in front of his home fans. Big day, big moment, big ask.

But he wasn’t the only Japanese driver on track, Ryo Hirakawa fulfilling one of Alpine’s young driver outings behind the wheel of Jack Doohan’s A525.

With all three tyre compounds in play, Max Verstappen set the early pace on the soft tyres with 1:30.7, putting him 0.009s up on Fernando Alonso on the hard Pirellis and a further 0.022s ahead of Charles Leclerc, who was running the mediums. Verstappen put a second between himself and the Aston Martin driver on his second flying lap.

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Bearman, meanwhile, was back in the garage after his installation lap as Haas worked on an undisclosed issued before sending him back out 10 minutes later. He was the last driver to post a time, a 1:34.5.

As Russell overhauled Verstappen in P1, Tsunoda was asked for his assessment of the RB21. “Balance is okay,” he told the team, “to be honest I’m not really pushing yet.” He was a second down on Verstappen’s fastest time before closing the gap to just three-tenths.

However, his team-mate Verstappen wasn’t happy with his RB21, reporting: “Super weird, the car is flexing a lot.’

Another driver having a problem or two was Carlos Sainz, who drove past the Williams garage. “Oh, I missed it guys, I thought we were at the other end,” he said before being told to drive back out.

Midsession Russell held down P1 with a 1:28.8, having put a new set of soft tyres on his W16,putting him seven-tenths ahead of Verstappen with Oscar Piastri third.

Swapping to the soft tyres, Tsunoda went second but was dropped by Verstappen, who was a tenth quicker than the Japanese driver. Ferrari entered the mix on the soft tyres with Charles Leclerc edging ahead of the Red Bull team-mates.

Lando Norris had a moment with wheels in the dirt and Lawson was quick to tell Racing Bulls he had nothing to do with that. Getting it right on his next lap, Norris went quickest with a 1:28.5.

Switching to longer runs for the final 15 minutes, Tsunoda was slower than Verstappen on the soft tyres but still put in a solid run. Meanwhile, McLaren told Norris: “From what we can see we don’t see damage to the tyre”, adding that he can “push”. He wasn’t impressed. Kimi Antonelli had a lock up.

The session ended with Norris P1 by a tenth ahead of Russell with Leclerc third.

Japanese GP: FP1 Lap Times

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:28.549 2 George Russell Mercedes +0.163 3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.416 4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.502 5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.516 6 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing +0.623 7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.673 8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.676 9 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.735 10 Carlos Sainz Williams +0.784 11 Alexander Albon Williams +0.843 12 Ryo Hirakawa Alpine +0.845 13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +0.987 14 Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.998 15 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1.159 16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.209 17 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber +1.474 18 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +1.528 19 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1.574

20 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber +1.598