George Russell led Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli by just 0.026 seconds to top first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. The session featured several incidents investigated by stewards, including encounters involving Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez, and Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson. All probes resulted in no further action.
At Suzuka International Racing Course, George Russell set the pace in Formula 1's first free practice for the Japanese Grand Prix with a lap time of 1m31.666s on Pirelli soft tires. His Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli followed 0.026s behind at 1m31.692s, continuing the team's strong start to the 2026 season after splitting the wins in the opening two grands prix and Shanghai a fortnight earlier. Lando Norris placed third for McLaren at 0.132s off the pace, ahead of Oscar Piastri in fourth at 0.199s. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took fifth and sixth, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen seventh, followed by Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson in eighth wearing a special white and cherry red livery. Haas' Esteban Ocon and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10. Aston Martin's reserve Jak Crawford, standing in for Fernando Alonso, managed only 11 laps and the slowest time, while teammate Lance Stroll was 21st, 3.6s adrift amid power unit reliability issues with Honda. Williams' Alex Albon encountered trouble, spinning into the barriers at Degner 2 while testing updated suspension before clashing with Cadillac's Sergio Perez at the Turn 16 chicane in a miscommunication. Albon said, 'I don’t know if he saw me,' while Perez noted his virtual mirror was not working and he received no warning. Both accepted neither was wholly to blame. Stewards also probed Hamilton's swerve before 130R, catching Verstappen on a fast lap under sporting regulations Article B1.8.5 for potentially dangerous driving, but cleared him as Ferrari gave no warning and Verstappen overtook without lifting throttle. Verstappen told stewards he did not view it as dangerous. Separately, Sainz was investigated for slowing ahead of Lawson at Turn 11 exit after passing him, but Williams radio confirmed he yielded for approaching Aston Martin stand-in Crawford.
