McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the Free Practice 3 (FP3) of the 2025 F1 Japanese Grand Prix, finishing ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, with Mercedes’ George Russell rounding out the top 3. Having topped all three Free Practice sessions, McLaren have emerged as favourites for the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. However, Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc could threaten the Woking-based team’s ambitions.
A disrupted FP2
After a productive first Free Practice (FP1), topped by McLaren’s Lando Norris, the 20 drivers returned for an afternoon session. With conditions similar to those expected for Saturday’s Qualifying and Sunday’s Race, the drivers emerged from the pitlane on medium or hard compound tyres, with teams aiming to run race simulations over the 60-minute Free Practice 2 (FP2) session.
Unfortunately, a early Red Flag, brought out by Alpine’s Jack Doohan’s heavy crash into the barriers at Turn 1, threatened the teams’ run plans. Doohan emerged from the incident unharmed, though he required a medical check-up before he could return to his team. Neither his A525 nor the barriers were similarly fortunate, however.
After an almost twenty-minute long clean-up and recovery effort, the session resumed with just about 30 minutes left on the clock. However, though the shortened timeframe posed a threat to the teams’ run-plans, many drivers remained on their hard or medium compound tyres, with teams hoping that they would be able to collect enough data to properly prepare for Sunday’s race. Unfortunately, only minutes after its resumption, Race Control again red-flagged the session, this time because Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso beached himsel in the gravel trap at the Degner Curves.
With less than 20 minutes remaining, the session resumed and many drivers switched to soft tyres, aiming to complete qualifying simulations before time ran out. However, another Red Flag—this time caused by a grass fire—interrupted proceedings once more.
When the track went green with five minutes to go, drivers rushed out for their final laps around the Suzuka Circuit. In the flurry of late action, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri set the fastest time before a fourth Red Flag prematurely ended the session. His teammate, Lando Norris, followed in second, while Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar claimed third.
Green Flag
After losing most of FP2 to Red Flag conditions, Free Practice 3 was a crucial opportunity for the teams to maximise their data collection ahead of the afternoon’s Qualifying session. For McLaren, the fastest team on track on Friday, FP3 proved an opportunity to confirm their pace ahead of Qualifying and Sunday’s Race. For their rivals, on the other hand, FP3 provided an opportunity to assess their competitiveness ahead of Qualifying.
As the lights went green, Alpine’s Jack Doohan led the drivers out on track.cFor Doohan, who surrendered his FP1 to Ryo Hirakawa as part of Alpine’s obligation to developing drivers, and crashed out in the earliest minutes of FP2, FP3 proved his only opportunity to prepare for Qualifying and the race ahead. After lengthy and intense repair efforts by the Alpine mechanics, the Australian driver started the session on the soft compound tyres, apparently running qualifying simulations. He was one of only two drivers to start the session on the soft tyres. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was the second.
The remaining drivers emerged from their garages on either hard or medium tyres, apparently prioritising the long runs. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed his place at the top of the timesheet within the first five minutes. His 1:30.397 saw him 0.435 seconds ahead of Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, who slotted into second ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz. With Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda fifth with a 1:31.630, FP3 appeared to be off to a promising start for the Milton Keynes-based team, which appeared relatively uncompetitive against their rivals, including Racing Bulls, whose Liam Lawson, demoted from Red Bull ahead of the weekend, settled into fourth, ahead of Tsunoda.
Burning grass brings out an early Red Flag
There would be no immediate challenge to Verstappen’s place at the top. Just about seven minutes in, Race Control red-flagged the session, with drivers reporting grass fires at the edges of the track. This, could be a problem, especially with the teams having already lost most of FP2.
Fortunately, after just under ten minutes in pitlane, Race Control resumed the session, with Antonelli and Aston Martin’ Lance Stroll leading the pack out onto track.
The delay did allow some drivers to change their tyres. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc joined his teammate on the soft compound tyres, with both McLaren drivers following suit. These soft tyres saw Norris claim his place at the top of the timesheet in the opening moment after the re-start. His teammate, Piastri went second, temporarily claiming a McLaren 1-2.
However the duo were soon knocked down to third and fourth respectively as Charles Leclerc went fastest with a 1:29.107, beating teammate Hamilton by 0.165 seconds. Tsunoda, on the hard tyres settled into fifth with a 1:30.030, before dropping to sixth after Russell, also on the soft tyres put in a 1:29.641. Piastri then went top with a 1:28.768 while Norris claimed second place with a 1:28.818. Meanwhile, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who caused the second Red Flag of FP2, went sixth with a 1:29.772. With just about 25 minutes on the clock, Leclerc improved his time to 1:28.783 to move into second, splitting the McLarens.
Meanwhile, Sainz, down in P15, narrowly avoided bringing out a second Red Flag. He ran wide over the grass after picking up some dirty air begind Piastri. Fortunately, Sainz recovered well, returning to the track, despite complaining over the radio.
Russell goes top in opening minutes of second half of FP3
With 30 minutes left on the clock, less than half a tenth separated the top three, proving the tight margins that the drivers can expect during the afternoon’s Qualifying. For McLaren and Ferrari, FP3 proved a promising session. For Red Bull, on the other hand, things appeared more complicated with Max Verstappen down in P16 despite several laps, albeit on the hard tyres. While Verstappen was expected to change onto the soft tyres later in the session, Red Bull appeared to be focusing on collecting race data, having identified some deficiencies compared to their rivals.
With 25 minutes left, Russell, now on the soft tyres, claimed his place at the top of the timesheet. His 1:28.385 saw him finish his lap nearly four-tenths faster than Piastri. Russell’s former teammate, Hamilton, then moved up into second with a 1:28.540, but dropped to third seconds later as Leclerc put in a 1:28.414.
On the other end of the table, Lance Stroll noted some issues with his car. “I feel something vibrating,” he said, before asking if the issue could be due to a loose wheel nut. Aston Martin have had a tricky Japanese Grand Prix weekend which appears to have continued into Free Practice 3. Stroll, despite promising performances in the recent Chinese Grand Prix, found himself down in P17 after 30 minutes of running. With less than 20 minutes remaining, however, he moved up to an unimpressive P15. His teammate Alonso sat at P9, unable to compete against the likes of McLaren, Ferrari or Mercedes’ Russell.
Verstappen promising on soft tyres
With just under fifteen minutes left, Verstappen, now on new soft tyres, went fourth with a 1:28.685m beating teammate Tsunoda by 0.1 seconds. Tsunoda’s 1:28.785 did take him ahead of Norris, who appeared to have suffered some floor damage after taking an aggressive line throught some corners.
Piastri, then went top, with a 1:27.991, and though Russell improved, his 1:28.077 saw him forced to settle, albeit temporarily, for second. Meanwhile, Williams’ Alex Albon went fifth with a 1:28.554 and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly slotted into sixth with a 1:28.603. Near the midfield, Russell’s Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli moved up to P12 after a lengthy stint at the bottom of the timesheets. Despite his improvement, however, Antonelli remained more than a second slower than his more-experienced teammate.
Into the last ten minutes of FP3, Norris improved his laptime, returning to the top of the timesheet with a 1:27.965. Verstappen went fifth with a 1:28.487, as Race Control red-flagged the session with just about seven minutes remaining due to another fire. The session ultimately ended under the Red Flag.
Full Session Results
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- George Russell
- Charles Leclerc
- Max Verstappen
- Lewis Hamilton
- Alex Albon
- Pierre Gasly
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Isack Hadjar
- Carlos Sainz
- Liam Lawson
- Kimi Antonelli
- Jack Doohan
- Fernando Alonso
- Oliver Bearman
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Esteban Ocon
- Lance Stroll
- Nico Hülkenberg
Feature Image Credit: McLaren Racing
