2024 Japanese Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 Results & Summary

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen topped the timing sheets during the first Free Practice Session ahead of the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix.

This weekend's weather will be unpredictable as there is a chance of rain during each session. The FP1 was almost fully dry (there were some spits of rain in the end) but in pretty cool conditions, and we saw a mix of tires from multiple drivers.

The majority of the drivers started either on hard or medium compound tires, with the plan of moving to softer compounds as the sessions developed.

Lewis Hamilton was one of the first drivers to switch on the soft but didn't have too much time to set quick laps as the session was interrupted by the red flag.

The red flag was triggered by the team and the driver who perhaps wanted to avoid it the most this weekend, Logan Sargeant and Williams.

The 23-year-old went wide onto the grass at Dunlop curve (number 7), and as his wheels caught grass, he lost his car and flew into the wall at the end of the run-off area.

The impact on the American Williams looked pretty significant. As the team still doesn't have a spare chassis, Sargeant will have a nerve-racking few hours before his team assesses whether his car is repairable.

In the worst-case scenario, Williams would have to run yet again with only one car- just as they did during the 2024 Australian Grand Prix (the previous race).

As the sessions resumed, many more drivers put on the soft compound tires. As expected, Red Bull now seems the quickest of all.

Then it's Ferrari and Mercedes behind. Silver Arrows will be looking for a better score than the previous weekend, from which the team took zero points.

The fastest lap set by Verstappen is already quicker than the fastest times from all three FP sessions from the last season.

Notably, Japanese F2 race winner and current super formula driver Ayumu Iwasa took over the RB of Daniel Ricciardo for the session. See the results below: