Russell Tops Suzuka FP1, Mercedes Dominates

0:00On March 27th, George Russell topped the first free practice at Suzuki for the Japanese Grand Prix, edging out his Mercedes teammate, Kimi Antonelli by just a fraction of a second. Mercedes keeps dominating their early 2026 season after these two split the wins in the first two races. Early on, Russell led on hard tires with McLaren's Oscar Piaestry and Ferrari's Charles LeClaire close behind. Looking to soft tires sharpen the times, as Russell and Antonelli locked down the top spots around the halfway mark. Landon Norris shook off a slow start with Aero testing to grab third, from McLaren 0.132 seconds off the pace while Piaestry landed. Fourth, Ferrari duo Charles LeClaire and Lewis Hamilton took fifth and sixth, staying ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen. The session stayed mostly incident free, but Williams driver Alex Albin spun into gravel at Degner on new suspension tweaks and later tangled with. Cadillac's Sergio Perez at the Chicane, Austin Martin Reserve, Jack Crawford, managed only

1:0211 laps in his FP1 debut, propping up the time sheets. Mercedes Edge sets up an intriguing qualifying battle, as rivals like McLaren and Ferrari push to close the gap this weekend. That wraps F1 News today, brought to you with AI. I'm Cory with the story.