Bottas leads Mercedes one-two in opening Japanese GP practice

Bottas on top

Valtteri Bottas set the pace for Mercedes in opening practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on Friday, edging out teammate Lewis Hamilton by just seven-hundredths of a second as Mercedes showed their early dominance with their superior car.

Bottas put up a fast time of 1m28.731s to finish 0.076 seconds clear of teammate Hamilton as Mercedes finished the opening session well clear of the field.

Sebastian Vettel wound up third for Ferrari, but finished 1-second off the pace. Teammate Charles Leclerc took fourth,1.2 seconds off the pace.

With a chance Mercedes could wrap up the constructors’ championship this weekend, the W10s were sporting new sidepod vanes, believed to be one of the last major updates they will make to the car in 2019.

The looming Typhoon Hagibis and its 150 mph winds mean that the circuit will be closed on Saturday, the decision having been made by the circuit and the Japanese Automobile Federation ahead of Friday’s running.

The Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Alex Albon were prepped to deliver Honda a solid homecoming – but the former could only finish fifth, three tenths ahead of Albon but more than 1.3s off top spot.

Carlos Sainz Jr finished seventh but his session was shortened as his McLaren MCL34 stopped at Turn 1 at the very start of FP1. However, he returned soon after to narrowly lead Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.

Rounding out the top 10 was Perez’s teammate Lance Stroll, and McLaren rookie Lando Norris with a gap of 2.270s between him and leader Bottas

Practice 1 Results