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

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.

2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix third practice result

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2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix combined practice times

P.	#	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	FP3 time	Gap	Laps
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’28.549	1’28.163	1’27.965		53
2	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’29.708	1’28.114	1’27.991	0.026	55
3	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’28.712	1’28.567	1’28.077	0.112	57
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’28.965	1’28.586	1’28.414	0.449	54
5	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’29.065	1’28.670	1’28.497	0.532	53
6	6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT	1’29.225	1’28.518	1’28.786	0.553	56
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1’29.051	1’28.544	1’28.524	0.559	52
8	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’29.392	1’29.023	1’28.554	0.589	40
9	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT	1’29.536	1’28.559	1’29.104	0.594	45
10	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1’29.547	1’28.757	1’28.603	0.638	51
11	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’29.172	1’30.625	1’28.785	0.820	52
12	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Williams-Mercedes	1’29.333	1’28.832	1’28.846	0.867	59
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	1’30.023	1’29.062	1’30.621	1.097	50
14	12	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1’29.284	1’29.733	1’29.126	1.161	61
15	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’29.222	1’29.978	1’29.772	1.257	47
16	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Sauber-Ferrari	1’30.147	1’29.335	1’30.134	1.370	52
17	62	Ryo Hirakawa	Alpine-Renault	1’29.394			1.429	24
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas-Ferrari	1’30.123	1’29.507	1’30.183	1.542	51
19	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	1’30.077	1’29.654	1’30.084	1.689	44
20	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’29.758	1’30.845	1’30.267	1.793	53
21	7	Jack Doohan	Alpine-Renault		1’31.659	1’29.767	1.802	19