Japanese Grand Prix Practice: Early Challenges & Tweaks

0:00On March 27, first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix kicked off at Suzuka this morning under sunny, but crisp conditions. The session started with installation laps for all drivers, though some like Lando Norris from McLaren only managed a single untimed run before. Heading back to the garage, Franco Calapinto, and both Aston Martin's also completed just a few laps early on. Notably, Jack Crawford stepped in for Fernando Alonzo in the Aston Martin. Early benchmarks saw Oscar Piaestry briefly top the time sheets with a 1 minute 32.812 second lap on medium tires. George Russell quickly improved that to 1 minute 32.429 seconds on hards, putting him 383,000s. Ahead. Times are still nearly 6 seconds off last year's pole position. Drivers face some challenges right away, like Isaac Hadjar reporting his car pulling to one side under braking. Ambient temperature set at 17 degrees Celsius, with the track at 37 degrees, making it tough to warm up the hard parallel tires many.

1:05Chose. The FIA made a last-minute tweak to energy recovery limits per lap in qualifying due to issues with harvesting at the circuit. Before the session, there was buzz around Max Verstappen ejecting a Guardian reporter from his press conference, plus notes on Honda's tough home race. Ahead in Mercedes front wing setup, as the green flag waves fully, expect more flying laps soon to shake out the pecking order before the rest of the weekend unfolds. Stay locked in with F1 News today, AI-powered updates.