F1 Japanese GP: Verstappen dominant in FP1 as Red Bull hunt constructors' crown

Nearly a week on from Red Bull’s humbling in Singapore, Verstappen utterly dominated the early stages – not only leading the pack out of the pack but heading the times from his first flier, a 1m33.719s set on the hard tyres that no one else could get anywhere near as the pack was split across the harder tyre compounds. 

This included a prototype medium compound Verstappen switched too after going quickest again on his second hards flier, his next lap after a quick trip to the pits a 1m37.597s. 

He lowered the benchmark to a 1m32.442s before pitting at the end of the one-hour session’s opening third, his gap to Fernando Alonso – now in second for Aston Martin – still solid at 0.7s, with the rest well over a second behind. 

After a spell in the pits with the rest, Sergio Perez was amongst the first of the pack to head back out on the softs, which require a slow preparation lap on the abrasive Suzuka circuit and its high-energy, demanding corners. 

After his first softs flier, Perez still trailed Verstappen’s best on the prototype mediums by 0.6s, before his world champion team-mate re-extended that gap to nearly 1.4s with his first softs effort – a 1m31.647s. 

Sainz slotted into second just after Leclerc had demoted Perez, with Alonso then splitting the Ferrari pair as the session hit its two-thirds mark and AlphaTauri driver Liam Lawson (eighth in FP1) reported light rain falling from the overcast sky. 

With the rest of the leaders back in the pits after just a sole softs flier, Leclerc stayed out and was able to re-take third with his second effort for Ferrari, albeit with a time still nearly a second off Verstappen. 

Sainz was second-fastest in FP1 at Suzuka (Photo by: Motorsport Images/Jake Grant)

As FP1’s leaders headed to the pits to make final changes and take on fuel for race-data gathering to close out the session, several drivers made late gains. 

These included Lando Norris climbing to sixth for McLaren while still running the prototype mediums, before Yuki Tsunoda jumped ahead of the Briton and Alonso to claim fourth for AlphaTauri with a late first softs effort heading into the final 10 minutes. 

McLaren then shuffled the order behind Verstappen again with both its drivers moving to the softs for the first time in the session’s final minutes, which Oscar Piastri used to jumped from 16th to seventh behind Leclerc, Tsunoda and Alonso. 

Norris completed his only effort on the red-walled rubber to jump to third just after the chequered flag fell, ending up 0.7s behind Verstappen. 

Those late changes dropped Perez out of the top 10 behind Alex Albon, Lawson and the returning Lance Stroll. 

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, ended up 13th and 16th but neither Mercedes driver used the softs in FP1, along with Alfa Romeo pair Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. 

Complete Japanese GP FP1 Results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	25	1'31.647		228.105
2	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	24	+0.626	0.626	226.558
3	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	24	+0.745	0.119	226.266
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	25	+0.927	0.182	225.821
5	Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri	22		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	21	+0.950	0.023	225.765
6	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	23	+1.003	0.053	225.636
7	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	26	+1.066	0.063	225.482
8	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	24	+1.344	0.278	224.808
9	L. Lawson AlphaTauri	40		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	28	+1.358	0.014	224.775
10	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	17	+1.393	0.035	224.690
11	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	25	+1.396	0.003	224.683
12	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	23	+1.482	0.086	224.475
13	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	24	+1.663	0.181	224.040
14	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	24	+1.801	0.138	223.709
15	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	22	+1.869	0.068	223.546
16	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	22	+2.052	0.183	223.110
17	V. Bottas Alfa Romeo	77		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	24	+2.213	0.161	222.727
18	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	23	+2.328	0.115	222.454
19	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	27	+2.565	0.237	221.895
20	Z. Guanyu Alfa Romeo	24		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	23	+3.184	0.619	220.446
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