#F1 #JapaneseGP FP3: @LandoNorris heads @McLarenF1 1-2 in fire-interrupted session.

Norris Japanese GP FP3 – Championship leader Lando Norris lead from team-mate Oscar Piastri in a McLaren one-two in the final 60-minute fire-interrupted practice session at the Japanese GP as Mercedes’ George Russell completed the top three.

Norris set the session-topping benchmark of a 1:27.965 on the C3 red side-walled softer compound and was a slim 0.026 seconds quicker whilst Russell was a further 0.112 seconds adrift in third.

Alpine’s Jack Doohan wasted no time to head out on track after his heavy shunt yesterday in FP2 with a set of the C3 softer compound, whilst Red Bull’s Verstappen emerged on the C2 medium rubber.

Verstappen was the first to register the opening benchmark of a 1:30.397 as RB’s Liam Lawson slotted in second and 1.119 seconds back whilst Doohan slowed down to go again for another tour.

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Williams’ Carlos Sainz demoted Lawson to fourth with their 1:30.832 and 1:31.019 efforts respectively to go second and third in the order.

All drivers were out on track with a mixture of all the compounds.

“I have a problem in the cockpit, it is quite bad,” explained Hadjar. As the Frenchman returned to the pit lane for investigations. Hadjar impressed yesterday, looked quick and certainly did not looked fazed by having a different team mate for the weekend. The Frenchman was yet to register a lap-time during this time of proceedings.

With 54 minutes left on the clock, like yesterday another red flag was waved due to another fire on the circuit. This time on the grass at the Casio Hairpin.

The timing situation at this stage during the red flag was Verstappen on top ahead of Antonelli and Sainz. But the times were much slower than yesterday, as no one was pushing just yet on lower fuel loads.

Whilst the air temperature was similar to yesterday – hovering around 14 Degrees – the track temperature was much warmer at 39 Degrees at this stage of proceedings. The wind direction had changed too, so the drivers would have really wanted to get back out on circuit and get a feel.

After the fire was put out and the session resumed with 46 minutes left on the clock, McLaren’s Lando Norris lead the pack out on a set of the C3 red-marked softer compounds.

Norris was on his flyer using the C3’s posting a personal best in sector one before Ferrari’s Leclerc snatched the purple in sector one. Then the latter posted two personal bests to post a 1:29.457 to go fastest.

Leclerc then went fastest to knock the McLaren driver to second on his soft tyre stint, setting a 1:29.107 to go 0.350 seconds quicker.

Next was the Chinese GP winner Piastri, who slotted in third and was 0.532 seconds off Leclerc’s effort.

Tsunoda put himself in-between Piastri and Lawson taking fifth, whilst Hamilton moved up into second on the time-sheets behind his Ferrari team-mate Leclerc and 0.165 seconds off.

Hadjar on the mediums ended up ninth behind Verstappen with his lap on the medium compound.

Mercedes’ George Russell was up next on his flying tour on the softs posting three personal bests to wound-up fifth behind Piastri who was on his second push-lap on the softs.

The Australian planted his McLaren MCL39 to the top the leaderboard with a 1:28.768 and was 0.339 seconds clear of Leclerc.

Norris was up next and made a bit of an error at Degner 2 on his hot-lap and ended up 0.050 seconds off his team-mate.

Leclerc then posted a purple sector one and two personal bests to improve but only took second and a slim 0.015 seconds off Piastri’s leading time.

Hamilton and Tsunoda followed as Hamilton improved to fourth and was 0.182 seconds off Piastri’s effort whilst the latter slotted in sixth on the C1 white-branded harder tyres and 0.691 seconds adrift.

With 35 minutes remaining in the final 60-minute session before qualifying, Sainz suffered a moment, picking up a little bit of dirty air behind Piastri. Which seemed to distract the Spaniard and ran wide over the grass. The Williams driver was not entirely happy out there at that stage, he did not seem at home with his FW47 racer at this moment.

At the halfway point, there was plenty still to learn for the drivers and teams, plenty of qualifying simulation laps still to come. But midway through the final practice session of the weekend, Piastri lead from Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton. There was less than half a tenth between the top three, so the margins were as tight as ever out there at Suzuka.

Tsunoda and Gasly were on the C2 mediums in their stints as both remained in sixth and seventh respectively.

Reigning world champion Verstappen was focused on the long runs with the C1 harder compounds as the Milton Keynes based-outfit were collecting race data for tomorrow’s 53 lap Grand Prix with both drivers. The Dutchman was sitting 16^th at that stage of proceedings.

With 25 minutes remaining, Russell on his C3 flyer set a purple in sectors one and three to go quickest in the order on a 1:28.385 to demote Piastri to second and 0.383 off the Briton.

Both Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Hamilton moved up into second and third on their efforts with a 1:28.414 for the latter and a 1:28.540 respectively.

Russell improved once more on his flyer to made the Mercedes driver 0.029 seconds clear of Leclerc at the head of the times. The Briton posted a 1:28.385.

The top five with 18 minutes remaining in the session stood with Russell on top, Leclerc second, Hamilton third, Piastri fourth and Norris completing the top five.

Both Red Bull’s of home favourite Tsunoda and Verstappen then put on a set of the C3’s for their flying laps.

The Japanese driver posted three personal bests on his effort to move up into fifth place on a 1:28.785 and pushing Norris into sixth.

Verstappen on his hot-lap also posted three green sectors to jump into fourth and was 0.300 off Russell’s benchmark.

Piastri was once again on a flyer, posting a green in sector one and two purples to go fastest on a 1:27.991 and was 0.394 seconds ahead of Russell in the classification.

The Mercedes pairing of Russell and Antonelli were both on decent laps next as the former set two personal bests and a purple middle sector to remain in second and only 0.086 seconds off – Antonelli slotted into 11^th after Sainz put in his effort to bump the Italian down a place.

Norris followed getting a yellow sector one and two personal best effort to jump to the top on a 1:27.965 to push team-mate Piastri to second and 0.026 seconds off.

Piastri attempted another push lap but could not improve to jump his team-mate Norris at the top whilst Ferrari’s Leclerc had a scary moment going through the Esses seeing a Williams in the tricky sequence.

With six minutes left on the clock, another red flag was waved for a fire on the back straight near the fast 130R corner.

Replays showed the fire started after Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto suffered a moment running over the grass near 130R.

The session would not be resumed after the fire-causing red flag.

Norris ended final practice on top ahead of Piastri with Russell third, Leclerc fourth, Verstappen fifth.

Hamilton followed in sixth and in-front of Williams’ Alexander Albon who took seventh, Gasly eighth, Tsunoda ninth as Hadjar rounded out the top ten.

Williams’ Sainz was outside the top ten in 11th place and ahead of Lawson who took 12^th, Antonelli who placed 13^th in his Silver Arrow and Alpine’s Doohan who ended final practice 14^th.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso struggled and wound up 15^th and ahead of Haas’s Oliver Bearman who finished FP3 16^th and Sauber’s Bortoleto who came 17^th in the order.

The other Alpine of Esteban Ocon was 18^th as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who suffered vibrations and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Japanese Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 3 Results at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1256/japan/practice/3

#F1 #JapaneseGP FP2: @OscarPiastri heads @McLarenF1 1-2 in red flag-affected session.

#F1 #JapaneseGP FP1: @LandoNorris edges @GeorgeRussell63 by 0.163s.

#F1 #Lenovo #JapaneseGP 2025 Preview. #Formula1 #JapaneseGrandPrix