McLaren completed a sweep of the three practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix as Lando Norris narrowly led team mate Oscar Piastri in the final hour before qualifying.
The two MCL39s were separated by just two hundredths of a second at the top of the times. However the session came to an early end due to another grass fire next to the track, the fourth of the weekend.
Norris’s lap of 1’27.965 is the quickest seen so far this weekend. Only the McLaren drivers dipped under the 1’28 mark, as George Russell led the charge for Mercedes a tenth of a second behind.
Charles Leclerc was fourth-fastest for Ferrari, though he was displeased to encounter a Williams in the high-speed Esses section during one run. Lewis Hamilton was just a tenth of a second behind his team mate.
The two Ferraris were separated by Max Verstappen, who spent much of the session running on the hard tyres and lingering near the bottom of the times in his Red Bull. Despite a late improvement bringing him to half a second off the McLarens, Verstappen remained concerned about his car’s balance, telling race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase it felt “all over the shop.”
There was some good news for Red Bull, as Yuki Tsunoda lapped within three tenths of a second of his team mate. They were separated by Alexander Albon’s Williams and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
Isack Hadjar was a mere thousandth of a second off Tsunoda in 10th place. The Racing Bulls driver pitted early in the session due to an unspecified problem in his cockpit which Hadjar warned his team was “bad”.
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Jack Doohan completed a trouble-free session in his repaired Alpine. Fernando Alonso also logged useful laps after causing a red flag yesterday. His team mate Lance Stroll was only 19th, however, his rear wing DRS flap visibly fluttering at one stage.
The stewards will investigate Verstappen and Piastri for potentially failing to comply with the race director’s instructions in incidents which appeared similar to those involving Hamilton and Stroll yesterday.
After the end of the session an FIA spokesperson said it will continue dampening the grass around the track before the start of qualifying in an effort to prevent any further fires occuring.
2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix third practice result
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2025 Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix combined practice times
P.
#
Driver
Team
FP1 time
FP2 time
FP3 time
Gap
Laps
1
4
Lando Norris
McLaren-Mercedes
1’28.549
1’28.163
1’27.965
53
2
81
Oscar Piastri
McLaren-Mercedes
1’29.708
1’28.114
1’27.991
0.026
55
3
63
George Russell
Mercedes
1’28.712
1’28.567
1’28.077
0.112
57
4
16
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1’28.965
1’28.586
1’28.414
0.449
54
5
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull-Honda RBPT
1’29.065
1’28.670
1’28.497
0.532
53
6
6
Isack Hadjar
Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT
1’29.225
1’28.518
1’28.786
0.553
56
7
44
Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari
1’29.051
1’28.544
1’28.524
0.559
52
8
23
Alexander Albon
Williams-Mercedes
1’29.392
1’29.023
1’28.554
0.589
40
9
30
Liam Lawson
Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT
1’29.536
1’28.559
1’29.104
0.594
45
10
10
Pierre Gasly
Alpine-Renault
1’29.547
1’28.757
1’28.603
0.638
51
11
22
Yuki Tsunoda
Red Bull-Honda RBPT
1’29.172
1’30.625
1’28.785
0.820
52
12
55
Carlos Sainz Jnr
Williams-Mercedes
1’29.333
1’28.832
1’28.846
0.867
59
13
27
Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber-Ferrari
1’30.023
1’29.062
1’30.621
1.097
50
14
12
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes
1’29.284
1’29.733
1’29.126
1.161
61
15
14
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin-Mercedes
1’29.222
1’29.978
1’29.772
1.257
47
16
5
Gabriel Bortoleto
Sauber-Ferrari
1’30.147
1’29.335
1’30.134
1.370
52
17
62
Ryo Hirakawa
Alpine-Renault
1’29.394
1.429
24
18
31
Esteban Ocon
Haas-Ferrari
1’30.123
1’29.507
1’30.183
1.542
51
19
87
Oliver Bearman
Haas-Ferrari
1’30.077
1’29.654
1’30.084
1.689
44
20
18
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin-Mercedes
1’29.758
1’30.845
1’30.267
1.793
53
21
7
Jack Doohan
Alpine-Renault
1’31.659
1’29.767
1.802
19
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2025 Japanese Grand Prix
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