World Champion Max Verstappen laid down a marker by setting the fastest time during final practice for Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix.
In warm and partially sunny conditions at Suzuka Verstappen, who claimed victory at Suzuka in 2022 and 2023, posted a time of 1:29.563s to finish 0.269s clear of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
Verstappen radioed his team that “the ride of the car is suddenly a lot worse” shortly after setting his best lap time of the session, while Perez complained that he kept losing the left mirror from his RB20.
Mercedes built on its encouraging performance of the opening practice session as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton classified third and fourth respectively.
Russell was 0.355s behind Verstappen – though within a tenth of Perez – with team-mate Hamilton a tenth of a second further back.
Fernando Alonso received Aston Martin’s updated components, after the team broke the overnight curfew to fit them to the AMR24, and finished the session in fifth spot.
Lando Norris ran wide through Turn 9 on his hot lap and failed to improve on another run as he wound up in sixth place.
Ferrari had a relatively subdued session as Carlos Sainz – winner in Australia – finished seventh, with his best effort six-tenths down on Verstappen, while team-mate Charles Leclerc finished at the foot of the top 10.
Oscar Piastri was eighth for McLaren while home representative Yuki Tsunoda continued his promising run of form by finishing ninth for RB.
Tsunoda’s team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, missed most of Friday’s running as he sat out FP1 while Ayumu Iwasa fulfilled one of the team’s two rookie sessions, before intermittent rain influenced most of FP2.
Ricciardo spun through the exit of Turn 1 during the opening stages of the session and finished in 13th place, three-tenths behind Tsunoda, with the aforementioned Leclerc, Williams’ Alex Albon and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas between them.
Alpine’s lacklustre campaign continued as Esteban Ocon was 14th, 1.4s off the pace, with Pierre Gasly trailing his team-mate in 17th position.
Haas was braced for a struggle at Suzuka and its expectations look to have come to fruition as Nico Hulkenberg was 16th while Kevin Magnussen brought up the rear of the field and also had a wide moment into the gravel at Turn 11.
