McLaren’s Oscar Piastri topped Friday Practice for the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix.
After two tough opening rounds for the Aussie, Piastri enjoyed a competitive Friday Practice as he finished fourth in FP1 which was topped by George Russell, before he topped FP2 with the fastest time of the day ahead of Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Russell.
FP1
Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg was first out on track but he and Gabriel Bortoleto pitted at the end of their installation laps, which left Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to set 1m 37.256 as the initial benchmark on the hard tyre.
His teammate, Charles Leclerc however went 0.010 seconds quicker on the same tyre compound before the pair were displaced by a flurry of quicker laps, but it was Russell who topped the opening fliers with 1m 33.312 in the seventh minute.
Piastri proceeded to briefly displace Russell by 0.500s before the Brit responded with 1m 32,429, but Leclerc moved to the top of the timesheet with 1m 32.260 in the 13th minute.
The Monegasque’s lap time however wasn’t beaten in the remainder of the opening runs as 0.079s split him, Russell, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Piastri after the opening 19 minutes.
Russell subsequently went for an early soft-tyre run and set 1m 31.755 as the benchmark, but Antonelli needed two laps on his soft-tyre run to displace his Mercedes teammate by 0.063s.
Russell however responded with 1m 31.666 in the 34th minute to top the session from Antonelli, whilst Lando Norris recovered from a technical issue early in the session to finish third ahead of his McLaren teammate, Piastri.
Everyone set their fastest lap times on the soft tyre except for Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s FP1 driver, Jak Crawford whose fastest laps came on medium and hard tyres respectively.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 31.666 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.026 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.132 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.199 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.289 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.374 |
| 7 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.791 |
| 8 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 0.863 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 0.935 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 0.999 |
| 11 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1,093 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.132 |
| 13 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.137 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.234 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.312 |
| 16 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.695 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 1.717 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.031 |
| 19 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 2.555 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.824 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 3.628 |
| 22 | Jak Crawford | Aston Martin | + 4.696 |
FP2
Like in FP1, Hamilton was the first driver to set the benchmark time as he posted 1m 33.306 on the medium tyres but Sergio Perez, Lando Norris and Gabriel Bortoleto didn’t venture out initially due to various issues.
Russell however set the pace on the opening fliers with 1m 31.568 but Piastri displaced him by 0.073s, before Antonelli lowered the benchmark to 1m 31.174 in the 11th minute.
Piastri responded with 1m 31.067 to go fastest a minute later amidst a yellow flag for Williams’ Alex Albon, after the Thai grinded to a halt on the inside line of the exit of Turn 1 but he successfully restarted his car unaided.
Leclerc soon afterwards topped the opening runs with 1m 31.019 to set the pace from Piastri and Russell as the trio were split by 0.117s, whilst Lindblad’s running was ended by a gearbox issue.
Piastri subsequently was the early soft-tyre runner in a move which paid off as he found 0.934s on his first attempt to ultimately set the session-topping 1m 30.133.
Antonelli fell 0.092s shy of the Aussie as Russell, Norris and Leclerc completed the top five.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1m 30.133 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.092 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.205 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.516 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.713 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.847 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.308 |
| 8 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.363 |
| 9 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.365 |
| 10 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 1.376 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.399 |
| 12 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.457 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 1.475 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.601 |
| 15 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.626 |
| 16 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1,939 |
| 17 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 2.305 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.482 |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 3.463 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 3.556 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 3.818 |
| 22 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | No Time |