Championship frontrunner Lando Norris appears poised for another showdown with team-mate Oscar Piastri, as the McLaren duo dominated during the practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix.
McLaren has claimed victory in the season’s initial two races – with Norris triumphant in Australia and Piastri taking the honours in China – positioning them as the ones to watch this weekend at Suzuka.
Piastri concluded the day in pole position, a mere 0.049 seconds ahead of Norris, who himself held a significant lead of over four tenths over third-placed Isack Hadjar.
Norris experienced some difficulties in the early stages of Friday’s opening run but managed to pull off a swift lap to top the leaderboard, just edging out fellow Brit George Russell.
Despite finishing a disappointing 15th in the first session, Piastri’s performance in the second run was more indicative of McLaren’s commanding pace, solidifying the pair as the ones to beat in Saturday’s qualifying round.
Lewis Hamilton clocked the fourth fastest time of the day for Ferrari, followed by Liam Lawson making his comeback to Racing Bulls after being dropped by Red Bull post only two races.
Mercedes’ Russell, despite maintaining a low profile this season, has secured third place in the first two races and continued to demonstrate impressive speed throughout both sessions.
He finished sixth fastest during a disrupted second session, which saw the red flag raised on four occasions.
The first interruption occurred just over seven minutes into the session when Jack Doohan – who had sat out the first practice while Ryo Hirakawa took the wheel of the Alpine – suffered a high-speed collision with the barriers, resulting in the loss of two wheels at turn one.
After a pause of 23 minutes, the race action picked back up until Fernando Alonso’s detour into the gravel prompted a second interruption, with trackside grass igniting twice, further causing delays to the session.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen managed to secure the eighth quickest time by the session’s end, with his new comrade at Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda, concluding in 18th position.
Earlier on, the Japanese driver had impressed during his debut outing with the team, notching up the sixth fastest time in the initial session and tailing Verstappen by just over one-tenth.
Speaking with Sky Sports F1 post the initial rounds, Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner said: “That’s a positive start for Yuki. He knows the circuit very well here. His feedback is very clear, very concise in the car. It’s just the start of his journey with the team and there’s plenty to get into.”
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