Alex Albon and Sergio Perez are out on track clocking their final laps of the session but the two drivers end up colliding at the chicane, with Albon's Williams coming off worse. Perez tells his Cadillac pit wall he didn't see Albon, and now the incident is going to be investigated after the session.

Oscar Piastri is crossing his fingers he can actually start a race this weekend after missing out on the two opening grands prix of the season. The Australian has got points on the board after scoring in the sprint event and now he bumps Lewis Hamilton down the order to fourth with a time of 1:31.865 on the soft compound.

Max Verstappen, meanwhile, has had quite an eventful time in Japan already, kicking out a journalist from his news conference yesterday. The Dutchman retired from the Chinese Grand Prix last time out and was unhappy with his car all weekend.

After Shanghai he said Red Bull are nowhere near the frontrunners in 2026 and that looks to be the case at Suzuka, as the four-time world champion - and four-time consecutive winner here - is seventh on the timesheets.

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Abbie Eaton
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Suzuka's got a mixture of everything. You've got some really technical corners through the Esses and then you've got the really challenging, flat-out corners at the back at the circuit. Throw the new regulations into the mix and you've got a million things to juggle. You're never disappointed to drive around Suzuka.

Harry Benjamin
BBC F1 Commentator on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

Max Verstappen is not enjoying Formula 1 right now. He was having a great time out at the Nurburgring. Although he was ultimately disqualified, I think he got more enjoyment out of that than F1 this season.

Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson is not impressed with the driving style of Franco Colapinto in the Alpine. The New Zealander is on the phone to his engineer to say this only first practice, what is Colapinto doing?

Over at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton has been in the garage for a while but the seven-time world champion is sent out on the softs and goes third quickest with a time 0.374 seconds off George Russell's top marker.

"What's this idiot doing? Who was that? It must be Perez, obviously"

George Russell is fastest from Kimi Antonelli but he's slowed down by some traffic at Suzuka. The Mercedes man calls his pit wall to ask who the "idiot" was who blocked him and he doesn't sound too surprised when he's told it was Sergio Perez in the Cadillac.

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The demands of the 5.807km Suzuka circuit need to tyres that are a litle bit tougher than the previous two races, so Pierelli has brought along the C1 as the hard, the C2 as the medium and the C3 as the soft. The green intermediates and blue full wets are also available, should the weather take a turn for the worse.

The track was resurfaced before the race last year, from the exit of the first chicane to the end of the first sector. Pirelli says with the work has continued this year with the complete of the remaining two sectors up to Turn 17. "The asphalt is therefore expected to be smooth and still dirty, offering relatively low grip," the Italian manufacturer added.

Lando Norris was late to the party in first practice, so the world champion is continuing with his medium tyre run and sits sixth on the timesheets.

Williams and their overweight car are towards the bottom of the board, with Alex Albon running across the gravel on a set of the hard rubber.

"That was a big moment."

Is George Russell's main fight this year with his team-mate Kimi Antonelli? The 19-year-old is now a Formula 1 race winner and with his second flying lap on the soft compound, the Italian goes to the top of the timesheets with 1:31.692. The gap between the pair is 0.063 seconds.

Russell did have a little moment on his latest lap, though, while Charles Leclerc slots into third spot with a 1:32.260 on his sift attempt.

The soft tyre is bolted over at Mercedes and George Russell and team-mate Kimi Antonelli instantly banked the two fastest laps of the session so far, with title leader Russell nearly three tenths quicker than Shanghai winner Antonelli.

Russell has noticed a change out on track, teling his pit wall the wind is picking up a bit.

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World champion Lando Norris, who suffered his first DNS of his career at the Chinese Grand Prix, finally heads out on to the Suzuka circuit to join the rest of the field.

With drivers having to think more about where to deploy and harvest energy this year, Norris thinks this year's event in Japan won't be as spectacular as previous seasons.

While it's "still an incredible track to drive", the Briton added: "You'll start clipping [recovery energy] into Spoon [Curve]. That's one of the quickest corners, where you turn in you are going incredibly quick. Like last year, I didn't even brake into Spoon entry."

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 1:32.260

2. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.013

3. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.044

4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.079

5. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.610

Abbie Eaton
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

It's a tough time to be part of Aston Martin. They know the car isn't where they expect it to be. They'll be hugely disappointed to come to Suzuka in this position, but Adrian Newey has stepped out of that team principal role and is fully focused on finding a solution to alleviate some of these problems and get some laps for this car. He's a very clever guy and if there's a solution to get around this, he'll find it.

Ferrari were having loads of fun in Shanghai swapping places but only one of the Scuderias could claim the final podium place behind the Mercedes drivers and unfortunately for Charles Leclerc, that honour went to his team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Leclerc doesn't think the Italian team can challenge the Silver Arrows at this early stage but with the same hard tyre as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli - the Italian is third on the timesheets - the Monegasque man has gone a fraction quicker than Briton Russell with a 1:32.260.

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Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at Suzuka

There's some definite positive to the new rules. Lots of cars are staying together and swapping positions from lap to lap.

One of the very significant negatives that I think everyone agrees with and the drivers are very vocal about is that the need to manage energy all the time has compromised qualifying to a significant degree.

China qualifying delivered some reliability issues for championship leader George Russell but the Briton was still able to put down a lap in the dying moments of Q3 to secure a front-row spot on the grid. Will he be back at the head of the field this weekend? He's just gone quickest on a set of the C1 hard tyre with a 1:32.273.

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Oscar Piastri will be hoping it's third time lucky in Japan this weekend after his failures to take part in his home race in Australia and the second grand prix in China a fortnight ago.

Piastri did pick up three points in the sprint event but on Sunday he was joined on the 'Did Not Start' list by his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris. The team found two separate electrical issues with the Mercedes engine which prevented both drivers from starting on the grid.

"It’s obviously not been the best start to the year but we’ll try and at least see the lights come on this week and go from there," said Piastri.

"We kind of know where we sit in the pecking order, so we’re not expecting too many surprises there. Just executing a solid weekend would be good."

Jennie Gow
F1 pit-lane reporter at Suzuka

Gabriel Bortoleto was stuck at the end of the pitlane, the green light went on and Nico Hulkenberg sped away. That wasn't the case for Bortoleto, he was a bit stranded and everyone had to work out if they could undertake him. It was a little bit hectic down here at the start.