Mercedes Dominates Suzuka Free Practice

0:00On March 28, Kimi Antonelli topped free practice 3 at Suzuki, clocking 1 minute 29.362 seconds to lead Mercedes, 1-2 ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix. His teammate George Russell, trailed by just 254,000s while Ferrari's Charles LeClaire sat third 867, thousands off the pace. Mercedes lived untouchable, gapping the field by over 8 tenths. The hour-long session kicked off slow, with most teams waiting 15 minutes to hit the track. Louis Hamilton set an early mark on soft tires, but LeClaire edged him with 1 minute 31.018 seconds. Things heated up around the 20 minute mark as Antonelli broke into the 1 minute 30s first. Raining champ Blando Norris struggled big time, stuck in the garage until 25 minutes remained, due to ongoing energy recovery system woes from. Friday, he managed just enough laps to land 6th, 1.2 seconds behind Antonelli, missing over half the session and hurting LeClaire's prep.

1:01Antonelli kept pushing, becoming the first under 1 minute 30 seconds, then sharpening his benchmark in the closing stages. Oscar Piaestry took fourth from LeClaire and Hamilton fifth, with Nico Hulkenberg, Max for Stappen, Gabriel Bordeledo, and Pierre Gasly rounding out the top. 10. Red Bull and others lagged further back. Mercedes heads into qualifying, locked and loaded, but watched for Ferrari and McLaren to fight back on race pace. Suzuki's twists would decide who carries this momentum through to tomorrow. That wraps F1 News today. Brought to you with AI, I'm Corey, with the story.