Red Bull double, Ferrari excellent in the mini long-run
| POS | No | Pilot | Stable | Time | Detachments | GIri |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:30.056 | 17 | |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1:30.237 | +0.181s | 17 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:30.269 | +0.213s | 19 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:30.530 | +0.474s | 17 |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:30.543 | +0.487s | 22 |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:30.558 | +0.502s | 17 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:30.599 | +0.543s | 19 |
| 8 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:31.165 | +1.109s | 22 |
| 9 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 1:31.230 | +1.174s | 19 |
| 10 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:31.240 | +1.184s | 21 |
| 11 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:31.935 | +1.879s | 18 |
| 12 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 1:31.943 | +1.887s | 17 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 1:31.958 | +1.902s | 18 |
| 14 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 1:32.054 | +1.998s | 17 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:32.055 | +1.999s | 16 |
| 16 | 40 | Ayumu Iwasa | RB | 1:32.103 | +2.047s | 22 |
| 17 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:32.277 | +2.221s | 22 |
| 18 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | 1:32.638 | +2.582s | 17 |
| 19 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:32.803 | +2.747s | 20 |
| 20 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 1:33.204 | +3.148s | 10 |
Max Verstappen he was the fastest in the first free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez – who fitted a new power unit in Suzuka – but Ferrari is not far away, on the contrary. Carlos Sainz paid just 213 thousandths and only 26 in the first sector.
Furthermore, the SF-24s were the best in the mini long-run at the end of the session, Sainz ran on the soft tire and was the only one not to drop his times as the laps progressed and Leclerc was noticeably faster of Verstappen on the same hard tyre. There second free practice session scheduled at 08:00 it will therefore be very interesting to evaluate whether this trend will be confirmed which sees Ferrari as decidedly 'racing' and capable of challenging the RB20s on the Suzuka track.
The Mercedes were fast on a single lap, but in terms of race pace they showed a significant increase in performance. For now they are not newsworthy McLaren, who completed the podium a year ago behind Verstappen. Still in the top-10, Tsunoda is looking for the first points of his career in Suzuka.
#Japanese #FP1 #ranking #Verstappen #Ferrari #pace
