Norris Manages to go Quickest in First Practice Session on Japanese Grand Prix

The teams have came to Japan for the first race of the triple header, and after what started as a difficult session for McLaren, Lando Norris set the fastest time with a 1:28.549. The practice was relatively calm, with no yellow or red flags, however there were some moments where a lot of drivers had a trip into the gravel. George Russell had a clean session, though, and ended second fastest, while Mercedes seemed to be a team to watch this weekend. As for Norris, his and Piastri’s McLarens did not seem to be the quickest car for most of the session, and Piastri finished a lowly fifteenth while Lando managed to put in a fast lap on the soft tires to go to the top of the timesheets. Ahead of Piastri, in fourteenth, was Gasly, who finished below Ryo Hirakawa, a reserve driver for Alpine and two-time Hypercar Champion in the FIA World Endurance Championship who took Jack Doohan’s place for this practice session. Another driver driving for a new team was Yuki Tsunoda, who finally got a Red Bull seat at his home race. He did decent during the practice, finishing one place down on his teammate Verstappen, who was in fifth.

Below are the complete results for the first practice session in Suzuka.