#JapaneseGP FP1 Report: @Max33Verstappen heads @RedBullRacing 1-2. #F1

Verstappen Japanese GP FP1 – Championship leader Max Verstappen lead from team-mate Sergio Perez to give a Red Bull Racing one-two in FP1 at the Japanese GP in Suzuka as Melbourne Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz completed the top three for Ferrari in a session interrupted by a red flag.

The Dutchman posted the benchmark of a 1:30.056 on the Pirelli C3 red side-walled Soft compounds and was 0.181 seconds faster than team-mate Perez with Sainz a further 0.213 off the FP1 session-topping RB20 entry before Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant’s crash.

Cool and overcast conditions at the Suzuka International Racing Course welcomed the drivers contesting the race weekend with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll the first to hit the iconic circuit with team’s aiming to prioritise longer runs in the opening FP1 session in the event that FP2 faces any rainfall.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was one of the first drivers to register a lap-time, posting a 1:32.767, edging Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths as both drivers ran the C2 yellow-marked medium tyres.

As usual in Suzuka, there was a lot of traffic build-up around the final three corners as drivers prepared for their stints and inevitably trip over each other as the field were mixed with both mediums and hards in the early proceedings of the hour-long session.

The massive aero-rake fitted on Stroll’s Mercedes-powered AMR24 racer came partially loose as TV replays caught the lower left-hand side of the rake damaged before the Canadian pitted.

Norris switched times with Sainz after the opening 15 minutes of proceedings, but the former had his time matched to the thousandth by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen then lowered the benchmark with a 1:31.463, on the C1 white-branded Hard tyres before a lull in the session amongst the majority of the pack as the teams switched from the mix of mediums and harder rubber to the softs during the second-half of the 60-minute FP1 session.

This prompted Hamilton to shoot to the top of the time-sheets, almost a second quicker than his 2021 title-rival.

The session was red flagged moments later when Williams Racing’s Sargeant put his FW46 racer into the wall; the American clipped over the grass through the Dunlop Curve and spun over the gravel. This did little to stop the Williams driver hitting the wall with the front of his car, which rotated it rearwards.

The Grove-based outfit need to assess Sargeant’s Mercedes-powered FW46 for damage, which was the entry that team-mate Alexander Albon crashed in opening practice at the Australian Grand Prix and required the chassis to be repaired. Williams are still awaiting completion of a spare tub, which they are expecting to have ready for Miami in early May.

When the 10-minute halt ended once Sargeant’s Williams was cleared, Verstappen hit a 1:30.056 to reclaim the head of the times, followed by team-mate Perez, who was 0.181 seconds off in that stage of proceedings.

This set the top order of the classification, as the two Honda-RBPT RB20 entries returned to the harder compounds to undertake more long run data gathering around Suzuka.

Sainz completed the top three, just over two-tenths adrift of Verstappen’s best effort as the two Ferrari SF-24 entries were split by the two Mercedes F1 W15’s: George Russell was a slim 0.013 seconds clear of team-mate Hamilton, who in-turn beat Charles Leclerc by a very narrow margin also.

Aston Martin’s Alonso was seventh overall, running the older-spec bodywork of his Mercedes-powered AMR24 entry as his team-mate Stroll tested slightly revised sidepods on his car.

McLaren’s Piastri and Norris were eighth and rounded out the top ten as home favourite Yuki Tsunoda split the duo in ninth for RB.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished outside the top ten in 11^th and ahead of Williams’ Alexander Albon who was 12^th and Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg who took 13^th in the order with the latter being given a black-and-white flag for running over the pit exit line.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas came 14^th in the classification and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took 15^th and Visa Cash App RB Formula 1 Team reserve Ayumu Iwasa (driving in place of regular Daniel Ricciardo for FP1) who ended the session 16^th at his home track.

BWT Alpine’s Gasly was 17^th and in-front of Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu who took 18^th in the classification.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and the aforementioned Williams FW46 entry of Sargeant brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 MSC Cruises Japanese Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1232/japan/practice-1.html

#F1 MSC Cruises #JapaneseGP 2024 Preview. #Formula1 #JapanGP