Mercedes maintained its 2026 1-2 habit in the first Formula 1 practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, with McLaren its closest rival.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli swapped top spot multiple times during their soft-tyre runs, with an error at Spoon costing Russell on one run and even his session-topping 1m31.666s lap compromised by being blocked by Sergio Perez's Cadillac out of the final corner. Russell ended the morning 0.026s ahead of Antonelli.

McLaren did its soft-tyre runs later than most and world champion Lando Norris lost some initial running to a problem that temporarily kept him in the garage.

But Norris and Oscar Piastri worked their way forward to third and fourth, both under two tenths of a second off Mercedes.

The Ferraris completed the top six, Charles Leclerc ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc having struggled to pull together a clean lap on soft tyres.

Red Bull had a similar morning, with Max Verstappen ultimately seventh (0.791s off the pace) and Isack Hadjar only 13th.

Verstappen joined Russell and both Racing Bulls in slewing wide over the run-off at Spoon, but the session's most destructive incidents both involved Alex Albon.

The Williams driver got away with sliding across the gravel out of the Degners and smacking the barrier with his left rear, then did more damage when he collided with Perez into the chicane in the final minutes.

Albon was diving down the inside of the slower-moving Cadillac with Perez totally unaware of his presence. Perez turned in and Albon spun in a shower of debris.

That incident, as well as an unseen moment at the 130R involving Verstappen and Hamilton, will be looked into by the stewards after the session.

Results

1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m31.666s
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.026s
3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.132s
4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.199s
5 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.289s
6 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.374s
7 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.791s
8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +0.863s
9 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +0.935s
10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.999s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.093s
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.132s
13 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.137s
14 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.234s
15 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.312s
16 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.695s
17 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.717s
18 Alex Albon (Williams) +2.031s
19 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +2.555s
20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.824s
21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.628s
22 Jak Crawford (Aston Martin) +4.696s