FP1: Bottas and Mercedes comfortably ahead in Japan
Ahead of tomorrow's tyfoon, the first practice session at Suzuka was a busy one as teams looks to benefit from some dry weather running, now that FP3 has been cancelled.
Teams were out quickly, and it were the Mercedes drivers who set the early pace on medium tyres until Sebastian Vettel jumped to the top of the timesheets with a run on soft Pirelli tyres.
Ferrari's dominance was short lived though, as Mercedes turned out to be quite a bit faster when they fitted soft tyres 20 minutes from the end of the session. Hamilton and Bottas were closely matched on these runs, but it was Bottas who emerged fastest, leaving the Ferrari duo nearly a second down.
Verstappen and Albon put their Red Bulls in 5th and 6th, with Verstappen another 3 tenths down on the fastest Ferrari.
Completing the top ten were McLaren and Racing Point, with Sainz the fastest of this foursome.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:28.731 | - | 26 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:28.807 | +0.076s | 25 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:29.720 | +0.989s | 26 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:29.912 | +1.181s | 20 |
| 5 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:30.046 | +1.315s | 22 |
| 6 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:30.375 | +1.644s | 24 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren Renault | 1:30.702 | +1.971s | 21 |
| 8 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point Bwt Mercedes | 1:30.810 | +2.079s | 21 |
| 9 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point Bwt Mercedes | 1:30.959 | +2.228s | 27 |
| 10 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Renault | 1:31.001 | +2.270s | 24 |
| 11 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:31.283 | +2.552s | 25 |
| 12 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:31.307 | +2.576s | 27 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1:31.426 | +2.695s | 29 |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:31.563 | +2.832s | 25 |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:31.785 | +3.054s | 22 |
| 16 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 1:31.920 | +3.189s | 23 |
| 17 | 38 | Naoki Yamamoto | Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda | 1:32.018 | +3.287s | 30 |
| 18 | 63 | George Russell | Williams Mercedes | 1:32.800 | +4.069s | 23 |
| 19 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Williams Mercedes | 1:33.484 | +4.753s | 27 |
| 20 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari | 1:36.887 | +8.156s | 4 |
