Valtteri Bottas was ahead by almost a second over his closest non-Mercedes rival as practice began for the Japanese Grand Prix.
While the two silver cars sat on top of the times, Lewis Hamilton a few hundredths of a second behind his team mate, the pair had over nine tenths of a second in hand over the competition. Mercedes ran new sidepod upgrades on their W10s.The chasing pack was led by Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel ahead of Charles Leclerc, and Red Bull, Max Verstappen leading Alexander Albon. Bottas had a close encounter with Leclerc during the session in the middle of Spoon curve, where he locked a front-left tyre as he caught the Ferrari.
Despite an electrical problem forcing him to stop within moments of the session beginning, Carlos Sainz Jnr put his McLaren ‘best of the rest’ in seventh place. Team mate Lando Norris backed him up in tenth place, the pair split by the two Racing Points.
Antonio Giovinazzi had a more serious problem in his Alfa Romeo. He toured back into the pits after four laps and did not re-emerge.
Following the announcement that final practice will be cancelled, teams took the opportunity to cover extra running in the first 90-minute session.
Naoki Yamamoto gave a good account of himself in his F1 practice debut, at a track where the Super Formula champion has won five times in that category since 2013. He ended the session within a tenth of a second of team mate Daniil Kvyat, although the latter ended the session running the medium compound tyres, while Yamamoto favoured softs.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’28.731 | 26 | |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’28.807 | 0.076 | 25 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’29.720 | 0.989 | 26 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’29.912 | 1.181 | 20 |
| 5 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’30.046 | 1.315 | 22 |
| 6 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’30.375 | 1.644 | 24 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’30.702 | 1.971 | 21 |
| 8 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’30.810 | 2.079 | 21 |
| 9 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’30.959 | 2.228 | 27 |
| 10 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’31.001 | 2.270 | 24 |
| 11 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’31.283 | 2.552 | 25 |
| 12 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’31.307 | 2.576 | 27 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’31.426 | 2.695 | 29 |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’31.563 | 2.832 | 25 |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’31.785 | 3.054 | 22 |
| 16 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’31.920 | 3.189 | 23 |
| 17 | 38 | Naoki Yamamoto | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’32.018 | 3.287 | 30 |
| 18 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’32.800 | 4.069 | 23 |
| 19 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’33.484 | 4.753 | 27 |
| 20 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’36.887 | 8.156 | 4 |
First practice visual gaps
Valtteri Bottas – 1’28.731
+0.076 Lewis Hamilton – 1’28.807
+0.989 Sebastian Vettel – 1’29.720
+1.181 Charles Leclerc – 1’29.912
+1.315 Max Verstappen – 1’30.046
+1.644 Alexander Albon – 1’30.375
+1.971 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’30.702
+2.079 Sergio Perez – 1’30.810
+2.228 Lance Stroll – 1’30.959
+2.270 Lando Norris – 1’31.001
+2.552 Romain Grosjean – 1’31.283
+2.576 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’31.307
+2.695 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’31.426
+2.832 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’31.563
+3.054 Kevin Magnussen – 1’31.785
+3.189 Daniil Kvyat – 1’31.920
+3.287 Naoki Yamamoto – 1’32.018
+4.069 George Russell – 1’32.800
+4.753 Robert Kubica – 1’33.484
+8.156 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’36.887
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2019 Japanese Grand Prix
- F1 is “sometimes not the nicest sport” says Ricciardo after latest disqualification
- Bottas admits “lucky” Suzuka start was aided by Vettel’s early move
- Leclerc: It would have been wrong not to penalise us in Japan
- Updated championship points and Japanese Grand Prix result following Renault’s disqualification
- Top ten pictures from the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix
BOSS
11th October 2019, 4:08
Go Lewis go
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
11th October 2019, 4:11
from the looks of the merc, they’ve adapted to the new schedule pretty quickly. still favourite as always.
unfortunately some drivers had little to no running, this is not russia, one mistake and the shortened weekend becomes even shorter.
fom kept the new bottas onboard for russia, now put it on all cars. new angles for this track, long shots, but mid session the shakes came back and cropping the cars so you don’t see the action.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
11th October 2019, 4:46
Just when the battle at the front was getting good…Hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come for this weekend and the rest of 2019.
GeeMac (@geemac)
11th October 2019, 9:55
Remember, Mercedes think they aren’t favorites to win any of the coming races… :/
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
11th October 2019, 6:58
Aha, this week Hamilton said Ferrari are faster than Mercedes.
First session their car is 1s infront of Ferrari. Meh :D when will I finally stop believing anything they say.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
11th October 2019, 16:55
Merc is and always will be, full of crap. They lie constantly and poor mouth their true pace and quality. It’s reason #1,711 that I hate that team.
Jeorge
12th October 2019, 5:21
I wonder what Wolff and Hamilton will say after the 1-2
“We were surprised Ferrari weren’t faster because of their straight line speed in this track with mostly high speed sweeping corners that favour down force”
“The upgrades worked better than we hoped but we expected Ferrari to make up 8tenths of a second at 130R which is essentially a long straight”
“For sure the Ferraris are hiding their true pace, we’ll see them unleash it at the start and we have to cover to protect from that”
Lums (@lums)
11th October 2019, 6:59
Ferrari sand bagging. They are the new Mercedes.