2 weeks Ago By Keith Collantine
McLaren completed a sweep of the three practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix as Lando Norris narrowly led team mate Oscar Piastri in the final hour before qualifying. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Norris’s lap of 1’27.965 is the quickest seen so far this weekend.
Only the McLaren drivers dipped under the 1’28 mark, as George Russell led the charge for Mercedes a tenth of a second behind. Charles Leclerc was fourth-fastest for Ferrari, though he was displeased to encounter a Williams in the high-speed Esses section during one run. Lewis Hamilton was just a tenth of a second behind his team mate.
The two Ferraris were separated by Max Verstappen , who spent much of the session running on the hard tyres and lingering near the bottom of the times in his Red Bull. Despite a late improvement bringing him to half a second off the McLarens, Verstappen remained concerned about his car’s balance, telling race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase it felt “all over the shop.” There was some good news for Red Bull, as Yuki Tsunoda lapped within three tenths of a second of his team mate.
They were separated by Alexander Albon’s Williams and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. Isack Hadjar was a mere thousandth of a second off Tsunoda in 10th place. The Racing Bulls driver pitted early in the session due to an unspecified problem in his cockpit which Hadjar warned his team was “bad”.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Jack Doohan completed a trouble-free session in his repaired Alpine. Fernando Alonso also logged useful laps after causing a red flag yesterday. His team mate Lance Stroll was only 19th, however, his rear wing visibly fluttering at one stage.
The stewards will investigate Verstappen and Piastri for potentially failing to comply with the race director’s instructions in incidents which appeared similar to those involving Hamilton and Stroll yesterday . Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free.
