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2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Lando Norris/Practice reports

Norris completes practice sweep for McLaren after more grass fires at Suzuka · RaceFans

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McLaren completed a sweep of the three practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix as Lando Norris narrowly led team mate Oscar Piastri in the final hour before qualifying.

The two MCL39s were separated by just two hundredths of a second at the top of the times. However the session came to an early end due to another grass fire next to the track, the fourth of the weekend.

Norris’s lap of 1’27.965 is the quickest seen so far this weekend. Only the McLaren drivers dipped under the 1’28 mark, as George Russell led the charge for Mercedes a tenth of a second behind.

Charles Leclerc was fourth-fastest for Ferrari, though he was displeased to encounter a Williams in the high-speed Esses section during one run. Lewis Hamilton was just a tenth of a second behind his team mate.

The two Ferraris were separated by Max Verstappen, who spent much of the session running on the hard tyres and lingering near the bottom of the times in his Red Bull. Despite a late improvement bringing him to half a second off the McLarens, Verstappen remained concerned about his car’s balance, telling race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase it felt “all over the shop.”

There was some good news for Red Bull, as Yuki Tsunoda lapped within three tenths of a second of his team mate. They were separated by Alexander Albon’s Williams and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

Isack Hadjar was a mere thousandth of a second off Tsunoda in 10th place. The Racing Bulls driver pitted early in the session due to an unspecified problem in his cockpit which Hadjar warned his team was “bad”.

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Jack Doohan completed a trouble-free session in his repaired Alpine. Fernando Alonso also logged useful laps after causing a red flag yesterday. His team mate Lance Stroll was only 19th, however, his rear wing DRS flap visibly fluttering at one stage.

The stewards will investigate Verstappen and Piastri for potentially failing to comply with the race director’s instructions in incidents which appeared similar to those involving Hamilton and Stroll yesterday.

After the end of the session an FIA spokesperson said it will continue dampening the grass around the track before the start of qualifying in an effort to prevent any further fires occuring.

2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix third practice result

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2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix combined practice times

P.#DriverTeamFP1 timeFP2 timeFP3 timeGapLaps
14Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1’28.5491’28.1631’27.96553
281Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1’29.7081’28.1141’27.9910.02655
363George RussellMercedes1’28.7121’28.5671’28.0770.11257
416Charles LeclercFerrari1’28.9651’28.5861’28.4140.44954
51Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda RBPT1’29.0651’28.6701’28.4970.53253
66Isack HadjarRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1’29.2251’28.5181’28.7860.55356
744Lewis HamiltonFerrari1’29.0511’28.5441’28.5240.55952
823Alexander AlbonWilliams-Mercedes1’29.3921’29.0231’28.5540.58940
930Liam LawsonRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1’29.5361’28.5591’29.1040.59445
1010Pierre GaslyAlpine-Renault1’29.5471’28.7571’28.6030.63851
1122Yuki TsunodaRed Bull-Honda RBPT1’29.1721’30.6251’28.7850.82052
1255Carlos Sainz JnrWilliams-Mercedes1’29.3331’28.8321’28.8460.86759
1327Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’30.0231’29.0621’30.6211.09750
1412Andrea Kimi AntonelliMercedes1’29.2841’29.7331’29.1261.16161
1514Fernando AlonsoAston Martin-Mercedes1’29.2221’29.9781’29.7721.25747
165Gabriel BortoletoSauber-Ferrari1’30.1471’29.3351’30.1341.37052
1762Ryo HirakawaAlpine-Renault1’29.3941.42924
1831Esteban OconHaas-Ferrari1’30.1231’29.5071’30.1831.54251
1987Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari1’30.0771’29.6541’30.0841.68944
2018Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1’29.7581’30.8451’30.2671.79353
217Jack DoohanAlpine-Renault1’31.6591’29.7671.80219

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Piastri leads McLaren one-two after huge crash for Doohan and four red flags · RaceFans

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Oscar Piastri kept McLaren on top of the times at Suzuka after no fewer than four red flags disrupted the second hour of running.

The first stoppage was caused by an enormous crash for Jack Doohan at turn one. His Alpine snapped around as he turned into the 265kph corner, then made heavy contact with the barrier on the outside.

Doohan climbed out of his car and appeared to be largely unhurt. His A525 was heavily damaged, however, as was the barrier, and the session was interrupted for over 20 minutes while the crash scene was made safe.

When the session resumed, it was only for a few minutes, as Fernando Alonso soon skidded off at Degner One and got stuck in the gravel trap. The Aston Martin driver touched the grass on the way into the corner, sending him wide.

That stoppage was bad news for Yuki Tsunoda, who was the first driver from the front-running teams to embark on a qualifying simulation. He had to abort his run on the soft tyres which left him an unrepresentative 18th in the final times.

After Alonso’s car was recovered and the session restarted once more, most drivers pounced on the opportunity to get flying laps in. The Racing Bulls pair showed remarkable pace, Isack Hadjar briefly topping the times. At this point the leading six cars were covered by less than a tenth of a second.

Lando Norris put a stop to that, however, lapping over three tenths of a second faster. Soon afterwards more red flags put a stop to the session, this time due to a grass fire near the approach to Degner One. It appeared a shower of sparks from a passing car had ignited the dry patch of turf.

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Following the third restart Piastri beat his team mate’s time by less than five hundredths of a second to complete a McLaren one-two. However Liam Lawson backed his team mate up in fifth place, the Racing Bulls duo split by Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.

Max Verstappen was the quickest of the two Red Bull drivers in a lowly eighth place, over half a second off the pace, with George Russell and Charles Leclerc separating him from the top five. “It’s like I have no front end at all,” he told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. “Understeering everywhere.”

Pierre Gasly gave Alpine some cheer following Doohan’s crash by setting the ninth-fastest time. Carlos Sainz Jnr, who pitted early in the session after reporting severe bouncing in his Williams, ended up 10th.

As the final seconds of the session ticked down the red flags appeared for a fourth time. This was again due to a trackside fire, which appeared to spread with alarming speed, and will give the organisers cause for concern for the rest of the weekend.

2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix second practice result

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2025 F1 season/2025 Japanese Grand Prix/Lando Norris/Practice reports/Yuki Tsunoda

Norris quickest in first practice as Tsunoda makes a strong start at Red Bull · RaceFans

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Lando Norris led the first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix while Red Bull’s new driver made a promising start.

Yuki Tsunoda ended the first hour of practice just one tenth of a second behind team mate Max Verstappen. Both reported some unusual behaviour from their RB21s over the course of the session. “I found the car interesting on the track,” reported Tsunoda as he headed to the pits, Verstappen having previously described his handling as “super-weird” as “the car is just flexing a lot.”

The two Red Bulls, in their one-off white and red liveries, occupied fifth and sixth on the timing screens at the end of the session. Verstappen was half a second off Norris’s pace.

The McLaren driver did not look entirely comfortable, however. He went off at the exit of the chicane earlier in the session and complained about graining during his final laps on medium rubber before taking the chequered flag. His team mate Oscar Piastri was a lowly 15th.

George Russell had good pace earlier in the session on the medium tyre compound but couldn’t quite match Norris on the soft rubber. He ended the session a tenth of a second behind in second place. His team mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was half a second off him in ninth place, having skidded into the gravel trap at the hairpin towards the end of the hour.

There was little to separate Ferrari’s drivers through much of the session. Charles Leclerc ended up narrowly ahead of Lewis Hamilton, the pair third and fourth ahead of the Red Bulls.

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Isack Hadjar continued to demonstrate the Racing Bulls’ pace, setting the eighth-quickest time, just three thousandths of a second off Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin. Liam Lawson, back at Racing Bulls, was three tenths off his team mate in 13th.

Behind Antonelli, Carlos Sainz Jnr took the final place in the top 10, despite a gaffe when he drove past Williams’ pit box. His team mate Alexander Albon also went off at the hairpin like Antonelli.

Alpine test driver Ryo Hirakawa enjoyed a trouble-free run to the 12th-fastest time, almost a second ahead of Pierre Gasly in the other A525. Haas brought a new floor for their VF-25 but their drivers ended the session ahead of only Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber.

2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix first practice result

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2025 Chinese Grand Prix/2025 F1 season/Practice reports

Norris well ahead in sole practice session at Shanghai, Verstappen 16th · RaceFans

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Lando Norris led the sole hour of practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, lapping almost half a second quicker than his closest rival.

Almost every driver took to the resurfaced track together for the final eight minutes to run the softest rubber as they prepare for today’s sprint race qualifying session. This followed an interruption of around five minutes while Jack Doohan’s car was recovered, his Alpine having suffered an apparent technical failure.

Prior to that, George Russell set the pace for Mercedes on the medium rubber. He had three-tenths of a second in hand over Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, followed closely by Oscar Piastri, then Lewis Hamilton the best part of eight-tenths of a second adrift.

However McLaren made a significant step forward when drivers switched to the softer rubber. Norris made a mistake at turn eight on his first lap, but tidied that up for his subsequent run, and despite a slightly scruffy run through the opening sector, easily went fastest in his McLaren.

Leclerc was the only driver who managed to get within a tenth of a second of him. Piastri only managed to get near Norris’s pace in the middle sector and ended up six-tenths of a second off his team mate. Hamilton took fourth, having made a mistake earlier at the pit lane entrance – scene of his infamous 2007 retirement – but made it safely into the pits. The run-off there was long ago switched from gravel to asphalt.

Russell struggled to improve after switching to mediums and was fifth. Nico Hulkenberg put Sauber in a strong sixth – he produced an impressive time in practice at Melbourne a week ago but was unable to replicate it in qualifying.

He was therefore quickest of the midfielders, pursued closely by Alexander Albon in the Williams and Fernando Alonso for Aston Martin. Andrea Kimi Antonelli made his debut at the Shanghai International Circuit in ninth.

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Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 for Racing Bulls, though his rear wing flap was visibly vibrating at one point.

Max Verstappen was a lowly 15th after abandoning his sole run on the soft tyres. He was sixth-quickest, nine-tenths of a second off the pace, when the drivers ran mediums earlier on. Team mate Liam Lawson, who has not driven on this track before, was 18th.

2025 Chinese Grand Prix Grand Prix first practice result

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Piastri narrowly leads final practice as Bearman spins out again · F1 · RaceFans

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Oscar Piastri raised the expectations of his home crowd in Melbourne by setting the fastest time in final practice.

However there was little to choose between the three quickest teams at the end of the last hour of running before qualifying. George Russell, second for Mercedes, and Max Verstappen, third for Red Bull, both lapped within a tenth of a second of Piastri’s time.

Yesterday’s pace-setter Charles Leclerc made it four different cars in the top four, lapping just over a quarter of a second off Piastri. However the Ferrari driver was less happy with the change in balance he felt since yesterday, complaining his car was “understeery”.

The two drivers who were arguably most in need of extra running got almost none. Oliver Bearman, whose crash yesterday left him with just a dozen laps on the board, joined the track immediately after the pit lane exit lights turn green. To his team’s dismay, he spun into a gravel trap at turn 11 soon afterwards, causing another session stoppage.

New Red Bull driver Liam Lawson, who was only 17th accompanied Bearman onto the circuit when the session began. However he soon returned to the pits with an apparent power unit problem and never re-emerged.

Verstappen, still running the newer front wing specification on his RB21 compared to his team mate, pressed on alone. Having lagged well off the pace yesterday, he improved his time by over a second.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a trouble-free run to the fifth fastest time in the Mercedes.

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Behind him, Williams underlined their status as potential midfield front runners. By the end of the session Carlos Sainz Jnr was just three-tenths of a second off the pace, with team mate Alexander Albon just six thousandths of a second behind him.

Lewis Hamilton was eighth, two-tenths of a second off Leclerc. He kept pressing race engineer Ricardo Adami for details on the gap between them, and appeared to be losing the most time in the quicker right-hander of turn six, where the gravel trap has been expanded since last year and now extends right up to ther edge of the kerb.

Yuki Tsunoda put Racing Bulls in the top five. Lando Norris completed the top 10, six-tenths of a second off Piastri, after abandoning a better lap in the penultimate corner. He did, however, set the fastest time of anyone in the final sector before the session ended.

2025 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix third practice result

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2025 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix combined practice times

P.#DriverTeamFP1 timeFP2 timeFP3 timeGapLaps
181Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1’17.6701’16.5631’15.92166
263George RussellMercedes1’17.7161’17.2821’15.9600.03973
31Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda RBPT1’17.6961’17.0631’16.0020.08161
416Charles LeclercFerrari1’17.4611’16.4391’16.1880.26775
512Andrea Kimi AntonelliMercedes1’18.3901’17.6341’16.2060.28576
655Carlos Sainz JnrWilliams-Mercedes1’17.4011’17.3021’16.2520.33178
723Alexander AlbonWilliams-Mercedes1’17.7131’17.3021’16.2580.33750
844Lewis HamiltonFerrari1’18.0711’16.8591’16.3780.45772
922Yuki TsunodaRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1’18.0611’16.7841’16.4550.53456
104Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1’17.2521’16.5801’16.5970.65971
115Gabriel BortoletoSauber-Ferrari1’18.4381’17.8471’16.7070.78669
1210Pierre GaslyAlpine-Renault1’18.5051’17.4931’16.7190.79875
136Isack HadjarRacing Bulls-Honda RBPT1’17.8471’17.0191’16.7320.81173
1418Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1’18.0571’17.2791’16.9481.02770
157Jack DoohanAlpine-Renault1’18.2321’17.3941’16.9931.07268
1627Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’18.5861’17.1611’17.1461.22557
1714Fernando AlonsoAston Martin-Mercedes1’17.7361’17.3301’17.2701.34972
1831Esteban OconHaas-Ferrari1’19.1391’18.0341’17.3731.45265
1930Liam LawsonRed Bull-Honda RBPT1’18.4551’17.640No time1.71954
2087Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari1’19.312No time3.39114

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2025 Australian Grand Prix

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Leclerc leads McLarens as Bearman misses second practice · RaceFans

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Charles Leclerc beat the McLaren pair to put Ferrari on top in the second practice session for the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne.

His quickest time of 1’16.439 was half a second off last year’s pole position time at the Albert Park circuit.

The McLaren pair were a tenth of a second slower than Leclerc, Oscar Piastri leading his team mate Lando Norris by 17 thousandths of a second on his home track.

Racing Bulls impressed in the second session, Yuki Tsunoda lapping three-tenths of a second off the pace in fourth. His rookie team mate Isack Hadjar was only two-tenths of a second slower in sixth, the pair separated by Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari.

Several drivers were delayed by traffic during the session, notably Max Verstappen, who took multiple attempts to produce a flying lap on soft tyres. His best effort was six tenths of a second off Leclerc’s.

Nico Hulkenberg was eighth quickest for Sauber following a scruffy start to his session. He had to pit early on after discovering a safety plug had been left in his car by mistake, then had a bumpy ride through the gravel trap at turn six.

Following their eye-catching performance in the first practice session, neither Williams driver placed in the top 10, though they did set identical lap times to within a thousandth of a second. Lance Stroll was ninth and George Russell just three-thousandths of a second behind him in 10th.

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Liam Lawson was a lowly 17th for Red Bull. He had a brief incident with Norris when they left the pits as the session began, the McLaren driver taking to the grass to avoid hitting the RB21.

Haas worked throughout the session to repair the damage Oliver Bearman incurred in his earlier crash. However they ran out of time to fix the car before the session ended and he failed to set a lap.

2025 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix second practice result

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Norris leads Sainz in first practice after Bearman crash disrupts session · RaceFans

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Lando Norris led the way in an opening practice session which was interrupted by two red flags at the Albert Park circuit.

The most significant disruption came when rookie Oliver Bearman crashed his Haas at the exit of turn 10. The driver was unhurt in the incident, but caused significant damage to the right-hand side of his car.

Bright sunshine greeted drivers as the first official practice session of the season began. It took little time for drivers to start beating the fastest time from the same session last year and by the time the chequered flag fell every team bar Haas had beaten it.

Charles Leclerc led the way early on as the drivers favoured the medium tyre compound. His new team mate Lewis Hamilton was off his pace to begin with, complaining he was struggling to turn his car at one stage.

Max Verstappen and the McLaren drivers were also consistently in the hunt for fastest time on the medium rubber. But once drivers switched to the soft tyres Carlos Sainz Jnr became a factor in the Williams, setting a 1’17.401 to head the times.

Seconds after Sainz set that time the session was red-flagged. Bearman had run wide at the exit of turn 10, snapped sideways as he rejoined the track and made a heavy impact with the barrier on the outside of the circuit. His VF-47 came to a rest with its right-hand wheels hanging off. Bearman apologised to his team as he climbed out.

That caused a significant delay in proceedings. The session eventually resumed with 10 minutes remaining, which gave Norris enough time to displace Sainz from the top. He had to contend with Yuki Tsunoda, however, who passed him at the final corner as the McLaren driver prepared to begin one lap, leading the pair to swap places at the next two turns.

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Leclerc ended the session third followed by Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren. Verstappen, who switched back to medium rubber for the final minutes, was fifth ahead of Alexander Albon in the second Williams.

George Russell was seventh for Mercedes after a harmless spin at turn four late in the session. Fernando Alonso took eighth ahead of Isack Hadjar, the rookie telling his team on the way in he hadn’t been happy with his fastest lap. Lance Stroll completed the top 10.

Hamilton was 12th for Ferrari, two places ahead of his replacement at Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The pair were split by Jack Doohan, whose off-track excursion at turn six dragged gravel onto the circuit, causing a brief early red flag.

2025 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix first practice result

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