Tsunoda steals the spotlight as Norris goes fastest in FP1

Kickstarting the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, home hero Yuki Tsunoda made his highly anticipated Red Bull debut in FP1 at the iconic Suzuka International Circuit, but it was Lando Norris who set the pace with the fastest time of the opening hour.

Amongst the haul of eager drivers instantly exiting the pitlane was the man Yuki Tsunoda replaced, Liam Lawson, who stepped out in familiar colours for his first session back at Racing Bulls. 

Coming to terms with his new machinery, Lawson opened the first hour of on-track activity on the har compound tyre, settling into P17 before improving up the order thanks to new personal best sectors.

Spending a decent amount of time in the garage, the Kiwi returned to the track on the soft compound tyre.

After improving to set a top-ten time of 1:29.536s, Lawson had a front-row seat to two lessons of what not to do around the iconic Suzuka International Circuit, with both Lando Norris and Alex Albon venturing off into the gravel traps as they began to push the limits.

Lawson was at a two-tenth deficit to Isack Hadjar as the session came to a close, taking the chequered flag in P13 for his first session in the VCARB 02.

Searching for the opportunity to secure back-to-back victories in Asia, Oscar Piastri’s FP1 got off to a calm start, with the Australian instantly positioning himself in the middle of the pack after his opening run.

Having returned to the pitlane, Piastri rejoined the session on the soft compound tyre, looking to close down the 1.6-second margin to George Russell’s then-benchmark.

He shaved six-tenths off his previous lap, boosting himself into the top three, however, the #81 still circulated over a second off the pace.

Piastri trailed down the order as his teammate shot into P1, ditching performance runs for a high-fuel focus to round out FP1.

With the chequered flag waving, Piastri ended the session in P15, with his fastest time being a 1:29.708s.

As for Piastri’s fellow Australian representative, Jack Doohan was sidelined for the opening session in Japan, making way for Ryo Hirakawa to complete ALpine’s first of four mandatory rookie practice outings in front of his home crowd. 

The Alpine Reserve Driver brought Doohan’s challenger home safe, finishing FP1 in a solid P12.

As for the remainder of the field, the early top three was made up of three different teams running three different tyre compounds before the popular medium tyre flooded the fastest times. 

Leading over his competitors for the opening fifteen minutes of the session, Max Verstappen set the pace for his new teammate, putting over a second between himself and Yuki Tsunoda who was focused on building confidence in the RB21 as opposed to gaining positions. 

Bouncing over the kerbs at the final chicane, Tsunoda pushed his Red Bull into P7 as his teammate jumped on the radio to complain about the behaviour of his car, making the new sub-one-second between Red Bull drivers a solid figure. 

After a short lull in the pitlane, Tsunoda returned to his home circuit to up the pace, jumping into P2 and sitting just three-tenths behind Russell, however, it wasn’t an interval he was paying much attention to as he told his race engineer: “Let’s focus on ourselves, I don’t need much reference time”.

Down the pitlane, the fastest-running Mercedes driver was seemingly untouchable during the first 30 minutes of FP1, before the championship leader had his say.

Lando Norris’ aggressive approach over the kerbs at Turn 16 got the better of him as he ran off into the gravel, a moment that preceded his jump to the top spot with his fastest time of 1:28.549s.

Behind, the Ferrari duo’s session was starting to look up.

Charles Leclerc had found his way into the top three, with Lewis Hamilton, sitting at a distance to his teammate for the heart of the hour session, edging within a tenth of the concerned Monegasque to sit in P4.

With 15 minutes on the clock, the Red Bull duo — running identical engine modes — trailed the Italian outfit, with just milliseconds separating the rivals.

Fast-forwarding to the #22’s first practice start on the grid, the keyword leaving the home hero’s mouth was “interesting”.

“I can give you feedback, but found the car interesting on the track. But yeah, it’s okay. Good sesh,” Tsunoda said.

Focusing on high-fuel runs, Norris quickly felt the effects of the newly resurfaced Sector 1 as his front tyres started to grain, questioning whether his competitors were also facing the same difficulties. 

The McLaren pit wall confirmed that Russell, just four laps into his high-fuel run plan, was showing signs of accelerated tyre degradation while insisting the #4 lapping as per usual. 

Despite his concern, Norris ended the opening hour with the fastest time of FP1, a 1:28.549s, ahead of Russell and Leclerc in Japan.

The second practice session of the weekend will kick off at 17:00 AEDT, with Jack Doohan firing up his Japanese Grand Prix with FP2. 

Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

Free Practice 1 Results:

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