McLaren lead the way during an unsettled FP3 in Japan

Finishing the final hour of practice as the team to beat, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were the fastest drivers on track during FP3 as the field struggled with the significant change in wind conditions and continued Red Flag interruptions.

With the track producing a completely different experience due to the 180° wind direction change, Qualifying Day at Suzuka kicked off, however, it was short-lived when yesterday’s Red Flag chaos quite literally reignited.

For Jack Doohan, the final hour of practice was extremely vital for the remainder of his weekend after missing FP1 and suffering from a huge crash in FP2, however, the Australian was raring to get “straight back on the horse” as the first driver out on track. 

Just 90 minutes before the green light, work was still ongoing on the #7’s A252 as the team opted to repair the damaged chassis as opposed to replacing it with a new one, but when the session kicked off, it was full steam ahead for Doohan.

It was a messy first run for many drivers as they navigated the new tailwind at Degner 2, with Doohan the first to kick up dust prior to the Red Flag.

Despite the FIA’s best effort to cut the dry grass as low as possible, clear the clippings and dampen certain at-risk areas, a grass fire picked up at the Turn 11 hairpin, causing just under 10 minutes of delayed running.

When the session restarted, the Australian didn’t quite maximise the remaining 45 minutes, lapping 1.5 seconds off the pace in P15 after setting his fastest lap on the soft compound.

Doohan remained in the pitlane as his teammate continued to rack up some miles, seeing Pierre Gasly comfortably sitting within the top ten at the halfway mark.

Rejoining FP3 with just under 15 minutes remaining, the Australian improved to P13, however, Doohan was still 1.2 seconds behind his teammate.

Unable to head to the grid to complete his first practice start of the weekend thanks to the late Red Flag, Doohan ultimately ended the session with the 14th fastest time. 

Although FP3 was a very positive session for Oscar Piastri, the McLaren driver started the hour by gaining some unwanted attention from the stewards.

Piastri was initially noted for failing to follow the Race Director’s instructions, before being made aware that he would be investigated after the session for overtaking his competitors who were in the fast lane by cutting the queue through the slow lane.

He wasn’t alone in jumping the queue, with Max Verstappen’s actions also being deemed “unsafe” as people were still working in the slow lane. 

Piastri quickly put that behind him after launching from the pit exit, setting the fastest first sector before being one of many drivers caught out at Degner 2.

On his next run, a purple middle sector guided Piastri to the very top of the timing sheets with a time of 1:28.768s, placing himself 15 milliseconds ahead of the Ferrari duo.

The #81 took a short break in the McLaren garage before rejoining the track action and making a statement when he skyrocketed back into the lead, demoting George Russell by four-tenths.

The only man able to beat Piastri’s time of 1:27.991s was Lando Norris who bested the Australian by 0.026s.

The session came to an early end, leaving Norris and Piastri as the top two drivers ahead of qualifying.

Building up to his first qualifying session back with Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson made use of the early stages of FP3 to run the medium compound.

His initial few flying laps hailed the Kiwi as the fastest overall C2-runner, sitting 1.1 seconds slower than Ferrari’s benchmark pace.

Lawson fell out of the top ten fastest times, remaining there as he ventured back into the pitlane. 

He remained in the garage until the final 10 minutes of FP3, launching around the Suzuka International Circuit and setting personal best sectors.

Crossing the finish line, Lawson’s fastest time of the session was a 1:29.104s, leaving him in P12 when the session was prematurely declared over. 

As for the rest of the field, tyre selection varied up and down the pitlane. 

To start FP3, McLaren and Ferrari opted to send their drivers out on the soft compound tyre, with the Italian line-up claiming the top two times by almost two-tenths.

Behind, Yuki Tsunoda was the fastest C1-runner, lapping under a second behind Charles Leclerc’s early benchmark.

The new Red Bull recruit continued to improve on the timesheets after a flap adjustment, reducing the margin between the hard and soft tyres down to seven-tenths.

Pace wasn’t the sole focus of the session, however, with the wind direction change catching a large portion of the field out at Degner 2.

Lando Norris had all four wheels in the gravel trap as he tried to catch his MCL39, picking up floor damage, while Esteban Ocon returned to the garage after encountering loose stones, requesting his team to check his Haas before returning to the circuit.

Slow-moving cars were also an issue on a number of occasions as Carlos Sainz was sent running completely off-track after finding himself distracted, while Nico Hulkenberg was forced to dodge a poorly positioned Tsunoda who was trundling on the racing line at Turn 1. 

With under 25 minutes remaining in the session, George Russell put his foot to the floor around the 5.8km track, promoting himself as the fastest driver with a title of 1:28.385s, eventually holding the lead by a slim 0.029s to Leclerc.

As the final performance runs rolled in, Norris had ironed out his Degner 2 woes and was finally about to put a clean lap together, outpacing his benchmark-holding teammate by 26 milliseconds to end FP3 as the fastest driver, aided by the early end to the session as a second grass fire ignited on the entry of 130R.

Drivers weren’t able to complete their final practice starts on the grid due to the session not resuming, instead prematurely jumping out of their cockpits to reset ahead of qualifying.

The decisive qualifying session to set the grid for the Japanese Grand Prix will kick off at 17:00 AEDT.

Image: Formula 1

Free Practice 3 Results: 

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