F1 Japanese GP: Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 in FP1, Sargeant crashes

The Red Bull driver followed the red flag-enforced hiatus, produced by Logan Sargeant's crash, with a hot lap on soft tyres that eventually landed on a 1m30.056s to throw down the gauntlet for the rest of the weekend.

In anticipation of any inclement weather at Suzuka later on in the weekend, it appeared that many of the teams wished to prioritise the longer runs during FP1 in the event that FP2 faces any rainfall.

This stunted the period of faster runs on the soft tyre, as the opening half-hour of running was dedicated to the hard and medium compounds amid the early installation laps.

Lando Norris led the way after the opening 15 minutes, having traded top-line times with Melbourne winner Carlos Sainz, but the Briton then had his time matched to the thousandth by Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen then raised the bar with a 1m31.463s, ominously on the hard tyre, before a lull in proceedings among the majority of the field as the teams switched from the cast of medium and hard tyres for a soft run during the second half of the session.

This prompted Lewis Hamilton to vault to the top on softs, almost a second faster than his 2021 title rival's time.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15 (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images)

The session was red-flagged moments after when Sargeant put his Williams into the wall - the American washed out through the Dunlop Curve and spun over the gravel. This did little to stop him from hitting the wall with the front of his car, which rotated it rearwards.

Williams will need to assess Sargeant's car for damage, which was the car Albon crashed in FP1 at the Australian Grand Prix and required chassis repairs. The Grove team is still awaiting completion of a spare tub, which it does not expect to have until Miami.

When the 10-minute lay-off had ended once the Williams was swept away, Verstappen punched in a 1m30.056s to return to the top, followed by team-mate Sergio Perez who was 0.181s off in that phase of the session.

This remained the set order at the top of the timesheets, as the two Red Bulls switched back onto the hard tyres to collect more running around the Japanese figure-of-eight circuit.

Sainz was third fastest, just over two tenths off of Verstappen's best, as the Ferraris were split by the two Mercedes cars; George Russell was a scant 0.013s clear of Lewis Hamilton, who in turn beat Charles Leclerc by just a smidgen.

Alonso was seventh, running the older-spec bodywork on his Aston Martin AMR24 as Lance Stroll trialled the slightly revised sidepods on his machinery. However, their back-to-back testing hit a snag as an aero rake broke on Stroll's car early on in the session.

Logan Sargeant, Williams FW46, climbs out of his damaged car after a crash in FP1 (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images)

McLaren's Oscar Piastri collected the eighth-fastest time over home hero Yuki Tsunoda, while Norris completed the top 10 over Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon. 

Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa made his first FP1 appearance for RB at his home circuit, claiming the 16th-fastest time as he slowly grew into the session. This was 0.9s shy of Tsunoda's fastest lap in an error-free showing from the Formula 2 race winner.

F1 Japanese GP - FP1 results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	18	1'30.056		232.135
2	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	18	+0.181 1'30.237	0.181	231.669
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	20	+0.213 1'30.269	0.032	231.587
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	18	+0.474 1'30.530	0.261	230.920
5	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	23	+0.487 1'30.543	0.013	230.886
6	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	18	+0.502 1'30.558	0.015	230.848
7	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	20	+0.543 1'30.599	0.041	230.744
8	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	23	+1.109 1'31.165	0.566	229.311
9	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		RB	Red Bull	20	+1.174 1'31.230	0.065	229.148
10	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	22	+1.184 1'31.240	0.010	229.123
11	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	19	+1.879 1'31.935	0.695	227.391
12	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	18	+1.887 1'31.943	0.008	227.371
13	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	19	+1.902 1'31.958	0.015	227.334
14	V. Bottas Sauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	17	+1.998 1'32.054	0.096	227.097
15	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	17	+1.999 1'32.055	0.001	227.094
16	A. Iwasa RB	40		RB	Red Bull	22	+2.047 1'32.103	0.048	226.976
17	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	23	+2.221 1'32.277	0.174	226.548
18	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	18	+2.582 1'32.638	0.361	225.665
19	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	21	+2.747 1'32.803	0.165	225.264
20	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	10	+3.148 1'33.204	0.401	224.295
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