George Russell went two hundredths of a second quicker than Mercedes’ team-mate Kimi Antonelli to hand the Silver Arrows a 1-2 in opening practice for the 2026 FIA Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix. It was two-by-two in Suzuka with the Mercedes pair followed on the timesheet by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. 

Russell led the early running at Suzuka with a lap of 1:32.429 set on C1 Hard compound Pirelli tyres. Then when the field began to move to C3 Soft tyres, the Mercedes pair stretched ahead, with Russell posting a time of 1:31.755 to clear Antonelli by four tenths of a second. The Italian teenager was finding time on the C3 tyres and at the halfway mark he got down to 1:31.692 to take top spot. 

Russell was also getting into a groove, however, and the championship leader then posted a lap of 1:31.666 to eclipse his team-mate by just 0.026s. Both times stood to the end of the session.

The Mercedes pair were followed by the McLarens of Norris and Piastri. The former ended a solid session 0.132s off Russell’s time, while Piastri also looked quick getting to within 0.199s of Russell as McLaren looks to recover from a double DNS last time out in China. 

With the order stratifying, the Mercedes and McLaren drivers were followed by the Ferrari pair. Leclerc finished 0.289 off Russell with Hamilton another 0.085s behind as the top six were covered by just under four tenths of a second. 

Behind them came two Red Bull Ford-powered cars, but it was Max Verstappen in seventh for Red Bull Racing ahead of stablemate Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls VCARB02. 

Verstappen, and team-mate Isack Hadjar, were unhappy with their cars throughout the session, with both drivers complaining about downshifts and balance on the RB22. Verstappen ended the session almost eight tenths of a second off pacesetter Russell. 

Lawson got his weekend off to a good start with P8 for Racing Bulls, with the New Zealander 0.072s behind Verstappen and the same margin ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon. Lawson’s team-mate Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten as the last man within a second of Russell, with the British teenage ending the opening practice session 0.999 off the Mercedes driver. 

The session was without major incident, but it was also not smooth for a number of drivers, most notably Wiliams’ Alex Albon. The Thai racer almost crashed, losing control at the Degner Curves. He fishtailed through the thin gravel trap and slapped the barriers but was able to continue on. 

The Thai racer was later involved in messy collision with Cadillac’s Sergio Pérez. Albon went to pass the Mexican into the chicane, but the Cadillac driver didn’t see him and Albon ended up with a damaged front wing. 

Aston Martin, meanwhile, had another tricky session. Reserve driver Jak Crawford, in for Fernando Alonso, completed just 11 laps with the Honda-powered car as he propped up the timesheet. Team-mate Lance Stroll finished in P21 3.6 seconds off the pace. 

2026 Japanese Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:31.666 26 228.058
2 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:31.692 0.026 26 227.993
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:31.798 0.132 20 227.730
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:31.865 0.199 23 227.564
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.955 0.289 25 227.341
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:32.040 0.374 23 227.131
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 1:32.457 0.791 27 226.107
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 1:32.529 0.863 27 225.931
9 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:32.601 0.935 23 225.755
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford 1:32.665 0.999 29 225.599
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:32.759 1.093 27 225.371
12 Nico Hülkenberg Audi 1:32.798 1.132 26 225.276
13 Isack Hadjar Red Bull/Red Bull Ford 1:32.803 1.137 27 225.264
14 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:32.900 1.234 27 225.029
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Mercedes 1:32.978 1.312 25 224.840
16 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Mercedes 1:33.361 1.695 24 223.917
17 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:33.383 1.717 26 223.865
18 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:33.697 2.031 22 223.114
19 Sergio Pérez Cadillac/Ferrari 1:34.221 2.555 18 221.874
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac/Ferrari 1:34.490 2.824 24 221.242
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Honda 1:35.294 3.628 21 219.375
22 Jak Crawford Aston Martin/Honda 1:36.362 4.696 11 216.944