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Tsunoda: “The throttle is not reacting quite well. It’s very lazy somehow.” Wood: “We’ll check it in the box.”
Alexander Albon jumps to the top of the times in his Williams with a lap of 1’35.180 on mediums.
Adami: “Want to take one more push of this?” Hamilton: “It feels horrendous, mate. Nope.” Adami: “Understood.” Ferrari are evaluating changes to their floor in this session. Hamilton is seventh so far on a 1’36.351 and is the fastest driver on the hard rubber.
Lando Norris leads the time for now on the medium rubber with a 1’35.249.
Liam Lawson describes his car’s balance as “shocking” on his radio. He’s 10th for now, running the hard rubber.
While Antonelli recovers to the pits, Oscar Piastri goes a little deep in the final corner but gathers it up without drama.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli is cruising in, he reports a loss of power in his Mercedes.
We saw a lot of red flags during practice at Suzuka as drivers went off in high-speed corners (Doohan, Alonso) or sparks ignited grass fires at the edge of the track. Neither of which are likely to be a problem around this desert track mostly bordered by asphalt with few very quick corners.
Vesti has a little lock-up in the Mercedes at turn one and runs wide in the Mercedes.
The green light is on at the pit lane exit and the drivers head out for the first hour of practice: Iwasa followed by Browning and Hirakawa. Ocon is the first of the regulars.
Finally, Mercedes are running Frederik Vesti in place of George Russell. The team say Vesti has tried some specific new set-ups for this track in the simulator which he will now get to sample for real.
Both Spanish drivers are skipping first practice: Carlos Sainz Jnr is on the sidelines while Luke Browning drives his Williams.
Felipe Drugovich is becoming a familiar sight in Aston Martin’s car in these sessions. This is his sixth appearance as Fernando Alonso sits this one out.
It’s a big moment for Dino Beganovic who makes his debut in an official Formula 1 practice session driving a Ferrari, no less. He’s in Charles Leclerc’s regular ride.
World champion Max Verstappen will not run in this session – Ayumu Iwasa will take over the car which won the Japanese Grand Prix five years ago (also restored to its regular colour scheme). Red Bull therefore have an all-Japanese line-up for this session.
We will see no fewer than six rookie drivers in action during today’s session. For Ryo Hirakawa, it will be his second Friday first practice appearance in a row. having driven Jack Doohan’s Alpine in Suzuka he will take over Oliver Bearman’s Haas today.
The first practice session for the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix is coming up next.
