FP1: Norris heads Russell in the opening practice at Suzuka

Despite suffering several moments during the opening practice at the Japanese Grand Prix, Lando Norris put his McLaren on top in the one-hour session, with Mercedes driver George Russell displaying an impressive performance to finish second behind his McLaren rival.

It was a busy hour of practice at the Suzuka track lined by cherry blossom, with Lando Norris finishing atop for McLaren. However, it was not a straightforward session for the Briton as he suffered a few moments across the sixty minutes of practice, albeit his lap push lap on soft tyres saw him jump to the front of the leaderboard.

Mercedes driver George Russell lead the majority of the session, displaying an eye-catching performance early on on Pirelli's medium rubber before ending up second quickest behind his fellow countryman.

Ferrari intially struggles for pace, mainly in the opening sector, but Charles Leclerc put in a strong lap to end up third quickest, four tenths of a second behind Norris. However, he could have been a tiny bit quicker had he not encountered traffic in Sector 3 on his lap low-fuel push lap.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton backed up in fourth, from the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and TYuki sunoda. The home favourite looked very comfortable in his RB21, building up his speed on Pirelli's yellow-banded tyres before turning up his pace on the softs.

Fernando Alonso has so far failed to finish a race in 2025, but he displayed a promising performance in the opening practice in Suzuka, putting his Aston Martin in an encouraging seventh over Racing Bulls racer Isack Hadjar.

Kimi Antonelli wound up ninth, having survived a visit to the gravel at the Turn 11 hairpin late on, finishing ahead of Williams pair Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.

Alpine reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa was next on the timesheets, having taken over Jack Doohan’s car for the opening session of the weekend, giving the Japanese crowd even more to shout about alongside Tsunoda’s Red Bull promotion.

On the eve of his return to Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson ended up 13th quickest, with Pierre Gasly taking P14 for Alpine.

On the back of his dominant victory at Shanghai, McLaren's Oscar Piastri endured a difficult session, struggling for pace in the opening one-hour practice to end up 15th on the leaderboard.

While Alonso had a promising session, his team-mate Lance Stroll's finishing in P16, the Sauber duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto and the Haas drivers Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon bringing up the rear of the leaderboard.