Max Verstappen finished fastest in Friday Practice for 2024 Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen topped FP1 from Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez in what was the only representative session of the day, after rain limited running in FP2 as only seven drivers set a lap time in a session topped by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Here is a full roundup of all the action across Friday Practice at Suzuka, Japan.
FP1
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was first out on track ahead of RB rookie for FP1 – Ayumu Iwasa but the pair plus Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas didn’t set a benchmark lap time, which instead was set by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton of 1m 32.945 in the fifth minute.
McLaren’s Lando Norris quickly usurped his British compatriot’s lap time with 1m 32.767 but Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz went 0.100 seconds faster, only for Norris to respond with 1m 31.781 to go top from Fernando Alonso and Hamilton on the medium tyre.
Perez soon slotted into second but 0.032s shy of Norris’ lap time which was matched by Alonso in the 17th minute, with the pair sat top until Verstappen posted 1m 31.463 on hard tyres to go quickest in the 23rd minute.
Hamilton meanwhile switched his attention to the soft tyre and went fastest on the half-hour mark with 1m 30.453, just one minute before the red flags came out after Williams’ Logan Sargeant spun out of Turn 7 after he got on the outside kerb and touched the grass.
The session resumed with 18 minutes left on the clock which led to a flurry of soft-tyre qualifying simulations, topped by Verstappen ahead of Perez and Sainz as the top seven drivers were split by just 0.543 seconds.
Iwasa finished 16th quickest on his F1 FP1 debut whilst Bottas, Guanyu Zhou and Sargeant set their fastest laps on medium tyres.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 30.056 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.181 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.213 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.474 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.487 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.502 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.543 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.109 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 1.174 |
| 10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.184 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.879 |
| 12 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.887 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.902 |
| 14 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick | + 1.998 |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.999 |
| 16 | Ayumu Iwasa | RB | + 2.047 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.221 |
| 18 | Guanyu Zhou | Kick | + 2.582 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.747 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 3.148 |
FP2
Shortly before the start of FP2, rain began to fall with only Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo – who had missed FP1 – plus Piastri, Zhou and Bottas having ventured out in the opening half-hour.
Tsunoda was the first driver to eventually set a benchmark time of 1m 42.304 just 33 minutes into the hour-long session, which he lowered to 1m 40.946 on his second flier with Ricciardo 0.967s behind his teammate in second.
Zhou and Bottas did further outlaps sporadically without setting a lap time, whilst Alex Albon plus the Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg also ventured out but failed to set a lap time because the track wasn’t wet enough for intermediate tyres but not dry enough for slicks.
As the checkered flag approached, track conditions had improved enough for some soft-tyre running as Piastri posted 1m 39.105 to go top, before he twice lowered his benchmark time to 1m 34.725 ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc who also ventured out on the soft tyres.
Tsunoda and Ricciardo rounded out the top five on intermediate tyres ahead of Norris and Sainz who had done a single flying lap on the soft tyres as the checkered flag fell, with just 13 cars in total having at least done an outlap at minimum.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1m 34.725 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.501 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 4.035 |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 6.221 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 7.188 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +10.252 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 17.854 |
| 8 | Guanyu Zhou | Kick | No Time |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Kick | No Time |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | No Time |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | No Time |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | No Time |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | No Time |
| 14 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | No Time |
| 15 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | No Time |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | No Time |
| 17 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | No Time |
| 18 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | No Time |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | No Time |
| 20 | George Russell | Mercedes | No Time |
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