Max Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 in first practice as Logan Sargeant crashes
Max Verstappen headed Sergio Perez in opening practice at Suzuka.
Reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen headed a 1-2 for Red Bull in the opening practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.
After a brief red flag period caused by Logan Sargeant’s crash at Turn 7, Verstappen stormed to the top of the timesheets.
Verstappen’s 1m30.056s put him 0.181s clear of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez as both drivers set their best laps on the red-marked soft tyre.
Australian Grand Prix race winner Carlos Sainz was Red Bull’s nearest challenger in FP1, 0.213s off the pace.
George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, who led the way before the red flag, rounded out the top five for Mercedes.
Charles Leclerc was only sixth-fastest in the second Ferrari, 0.502s off the pace, less than a tenth ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
There was then a six-tenth gap to Oscar Piastri in eighth, with McLaren struggling to improve significantly on the softer rubber.
Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris completed the top 10.
Esteban Ocon was 11th overall, although there was a significant margin to Norris at nearly 0.7s.
Next up were Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg, while neither Sauber driver - Valtteri Bottas (14th) and Zhou Guanyu (18th) opted to run on the soft.
Ayumu Iwasa was in for Daniel Ricciardo at RB and he enjoyed a solid outing on home soil, setting the 16th-fastest time.
Sargeant was slowest of the 20 runners - and will await an investigation by Williams to see how much damage there is given the team has no spare chassis once again.
