F1 Japanese GP: George Russell leads Kimi Antonelli by 0.026s in FP1

March 27, 2026

Championship leader George Russell has topped Formula 1’s first free practice session at Suzuka’s Japanese Grand Prix, pipping Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by a tiny margin.

With Russell and Antonelli having divided the first two grands prix wins between themselves, Mercedes’ early-season dominance showing little signs of slowing down at the third event of the 2026 era.

Russell led the early running at F1’s iconic Suzuka circuit on hard tyres (1m32.429s), initially followed by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. And when the frontrunners switched to Pirelli’s softest compound Russell and Antonelli further cemented their spot at the top of the order.

Around 25 minutes into the session, Russell first improved to a 1m31.755s ahead of Antonelli’s 1m32.032s. The Italian, F1’s second-youngest race winner courtesy of his Shanghai exploits a fortnight ago, then sped to a 1m31.692s to lead at the halfway mark.

After going wide at Spoon, Russell swiftly regained the lead on his following lap with a 1m31.666s effort on softs, beating Antonelli by just 0.026s with what would turn out to be the fastest time of the morning.

World champion Lando Norris had a slower start to practice, having a rake fitted to his car to conduct some aerodynamic testing. But Norris synced up with his peers later on to take third, just 0.132s in arrears.

Piastri also had a strong showing for McLaren, getting to within 0.199s of Russell as the Woking squad aims to bounce back from a double non-start in China due to two separate battery issues.

Leclerc and fellow Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton conceded around three tenths to Mercedes as they occupied fifth and sixth respectively, comfortably ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Lawson was a strong eighth for Racing Bulls in its one-off white and cherry red Japanese livery, with Haas’ Esteban Ocon and Lawson’s rookie team-mate Arvid Lindblad rounding out the top 10.

Alexander Albon, Williams

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

The session occurred without major incidents, although there was a scare at struggling Williams when Alex Albon went off at Degner while trying to catch a snap of oversteer. Albon careened through the gravel and couldn’t avoid a hefty hit with the barriers with his left-rear corner as he sampled the team’s tweaked suspension.

Albon’s car appeared to be fine to return to the session later on, but the Anglo-Thai driver was then involved in contact with Cadillac’s Sergio Perez at the chicane, with Albon carving up his front wing against the side of the Mexican driver’s car following what appeared to be a miscommunication. Perez had already drawn the ire of Russell earlier on for impeding the Mercedes driver.

Speaking of troubled teams, at Aston Martin reserve driver Jak Crawford took over Fernando Alonso’s car for his first rookie FP1 outing of the year, the American driver completing just 11 laps with the Honda-powered car as he propped up the timesheet. Team-mate Lance Stroll was up ahead in 21st, 3.6 seconds off the pace as Aston Martin and Honda attempted to balance chasing performance with managing significant reliability concerns with their power unit package.