F1 Japanese GP: Norris tops FP1 from Russell, Tsunoda sixth for Red Bull

Lando Norris headlined the opening observe session of System 1’s Japanese Grand Prix, as Yuki Tsunoda was only a tenth behind Max Verstappen in his first official run for Pink Bull.

Norris overcame a sequence of scrappy moments earlier within the session, notably as his aggressive strategy to the Casio Triangle led to a close to spin and, later, a quick off on the gravel on the nook exit.

However the Briton then set the perfect first two sectors of the session, after which maybe took a little bit of margin via the ultimate chicane, on his quickest tour to set a 1m28.549s on the smooth tyre.

This put him 0.163s away from George Russell, who was sat on the high of the timesheets via each medium and soft-tyre runs earlier than Norris eclipsed him with an eventual clear run.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton slotted into third and fourth regardless of Leclerc stating that he was battling automotive deceleration within the corners, with Hamilton simply 0.014s away from Max Verstappen.

Verstappen reported struggles with automotive flexing within the second sector, and was simply 0.107s away from Tsunoda, because the Japanese driver received his first style of Pink Bull’s RB21 after his promotion from Racing Bulls. Tsunoda reported that he “discovered the automotive attention-grabbing” on the radio after the session, however famous that it was a very good session regardless.

Fernando Alonso put himself into the highest seven forward of Isack Hadjar, whereas Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz accomplished the highest 10 – though the 2 suffered subsequent missteps on their longer runs.

Sainz reported that he did not just like the sharper entrance finish of the Williams after a set-up change, whereas Antonelli had a second on the hairpin in sector two. Alex Albon, who was eleventh, additionally sustained the same off to Antonelli after his automotive understeered on the slowest nook on the circuit.

Alpine reserve Ryo Hirakawa was twelfth, simply 0.845s from Norris’ benchmark in his first outing with the A525, which put him 0.15s clear of standard driver Pierre Gasly.

The Alpines had been break up by Liam Lawson in his return to the Racing Bulls fold.

Oscar Piastri did not get a really aggressive lap in after struggling along with his McLaren in the course of the earlier soft-tyre runs, and positioned solely fifteenth.

F1 Japanese GP – FP1 outcomes