Tsunoda proves Red Bull right: A tenth off Verstappen as Norris leads

McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the Japanese Grand Prix’s FP1 timesheets, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who rounded off the top three.

As it happened

All eyes were on Yuki Tsunoda as he exited the pitlane for the first time as a Red Bull Racing driver at his home Grand Prix, having stepped into the seat in replacement of Kiwi driver, Liam Lawson. A great honour for the Japanese driver, who also had the added bonus of racing in a Honda inspired livery.

Tsunoda’s first lap looked scruffy, with a moment coming out of turn 11, leaving him nearly two seconds off the pace off his teammate, Max Verstappen, who came out of the blocks completely on it. His first lap was decidedly quicker than his competitors’ and his second fastest lap was even faster.

Mercedes’ George Russell, and McLaren’s Lando Norris, tried but couldn’t take the top place from the Dutchman, slotting in in P2 and P3 respectively.

Tsunoda’s second lap was a certain improvement, which put him momentarily in P4, only to then be overtaken by Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Isaac Hadjar and Charles Leclerc.

For Lawson, the man with something to prove, it was his teammate who first climbed up into the top 10, as the Kiwi driver languished at the bottom of the order, only to marginally improve from P17 to P13.

Tsunoda then issued a clarifying message, reassuring the entirety of the Red Bull structure, saying that he could not evaluate the RB21’s balance properly given that he was ‘honestly, not pushing yet’.

The Japanese driver proved as much when even after an oversteery moment coming out of the final chicane, he was able to clock in the fifth fastest time, just four tenths off his teammate. At the 20 minute mark Russell led from Verstappen, Albon, Hamilton and Leclerc.

Verstappen having improved slightly on his previous lap time, reported a “weird” issue. “The car is flexing a lot,” adding yet another behaviour of the car to the long list that Red Bull still has to look into.

Racing Bulls rookie, Hadjar, then widened the gap to teammate Lawson, as he edged close to Red Bull driver Verstappen, in P3. The Kiwi driver, though far behind his teammate was driving the best session of his season by far positioning himself in a solid P12.

Nearing the equator of FP1 Russell eeked out a bigger gap to Verstappen, over 7 tenths, as the McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri struggled with the balance. The Australian, however, was able to take over P3 from Hadjar, as his teammate Norris’s time was only good enough for P11 just behind Tsunoda in P10.

Antonelli then jumped up to P2 as Albon and Sainz moved up to P4 and P5 respectively.

Tsunoda close to Verstappen

Tsunoda then pipped the Italian Mercedes driver to P2 closing up to Russell to ‘only’ just over three and a half tenths, beating Verstappen’s previous effort by almost four tenths. After hearing the gap to the British driver, the Japanese issued a clear instruction to his garage to “focus on ourselves.”

Verstappen, on a new set of soft tyres, could only improve by nearly 5 tenths, as Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, took over the role of Russell’s pursuer just two and a half tenths adrift from the Mercedes man’s pace.

Norris then went off on the exit of the final chicane, unable to keep his McLaren on the black stuff, losing out on putting in yet another meaningful lap time. McLaren did not look as solid as they had in the first two rounds of the season.

Alex Albon then went off at the hairpin, unable to stop his FW47 in time. Norris then managed to put a lap together showing the potential of his MCL39 edging Russell out by a little over a tenth and a half as Hamilton closed up to less than a tenth off Leclerc placing himself in P4.

Then it was time for the full fuel long runs, and Tsunoda managed to keep up with Verstappen’s pace, with both Red Bull drivers in the low 1:34’s. Hamilton was on par with both Red Bull drivers, as Russell was running in the high 1:32’s, and Leclerc was marking a solid 1:33.7’s. Hamilton then matched Leclerc’s pace with a 1:33.6, as the Monegasque went down to a 1:33.5.

Verstappen then dipped below the 1:34’s, with a 1:33.9, as Tsunoda complained about understeer due to the tyre deg, clocking in a lap of 1:34.8. At McLaren the pace was better despite Norris’ complaints, with the Briton putting in laps in the high 1:38’s

Full results for FP1 of the 2025 Formula One Japanese Grand Prix

Full results of FP1 for the 2025 F1 Japanese Grand Prix