Mercedes’ domination of the early running of the 2026 Formula 1 season continued, as George Russell pipped Kimi Antonelli to top the charts in first practice ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
In the first session of the race weekend in Suzuka, Russell and Antonelli were separated by just 0.026 seconds, in a session where a number of team sported aero rakes and flow-vis paint, as they attempt to gather more data about their cars, with Formula 1 heading into a month’s break after this weekend, following the cancellation of the two grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia that were scheduled for April.
McLaren are seeking a better weekend in Japan after neither Lando Norris nor Oscar Piastri could start the race in China. They got that quest off to a positive start as Norrish and Piastri finished third and fourth respectively, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Norris and Piastri finished within two tenths of the leader, with the former 0.132 seconds behind and the latter 0.199 seconds behind Russell. The Ferraris finished fifth and sixth, with Leclerc 0.289 seconds behind Russell, and Hamilton a further 0.085 seconds behind.
Max Verstappen finished in seventh, and was followed by Liam Lawson, Esteban Ocon and Arvid Lindblad to round off the top 10.
Verstappen’s team-mate Isack Hadjar, who complained about cold brakes and pulling early on in the session, only managed to finish in 13th behind Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman in the two Haas cars.
It was another tricky practice session for Williams, who saw Alex Albon go off into the gravel early in the session. Albon then bumped into Cadillac’s Sergio Perez late on in the session, causing debris to spread across the track, in an incident that the stewards ruled they would investigate after the session.
Second practice will begin at 3 p.m. local time (6 a.m. GMT)
