Max Verstappen led Red Bull 1-2 in the opening practice hours of the Japanese Grand Prix as Ferrari and Mercedes battled for the best of the rest.
Bouncing back from his retirement at the Australian Grand Prix, Verstappen clocked 1:30.056 to take the opening P1 of the weekend at the Suzuka circuit.
Red Bull 1-2, Mercedes defeats Ferrari
Teammate Perez was the closest challenger in a session that was red-flagged when Logan Sargent crashed his Williams at Turn 7.
Touching the grass on the exit, he lost control of his Williams as it sped up, resulting in the front of the car hitting the barrier hard, followed by a second heavy impact from the rear.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was third, leading the Mercedes/Ferrari sandwich of George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
The latter was half a second slower than Verstappen's P1 time.
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Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris, all running Aston Martin's older aero package, completed the top ten.
Meanwhile, RB test driver Ayumu Iwasa, who took part in the team's young driver session in place of Daniel Ricciardo, finished 16th, 8/00 of a second behind Tsunoda.
result
1 Max Verstappen 1:30.056 18 laps
2 Sergio Perez +0.181 18 laps
3 Carlos Sainz +0.213 20 laps
4 George Russell +0.474 18 laps
5 Lewis Hamilton +0.487 23 laps
6 Charles Leclerc +0.502 18 laps
7 Fernando Alonso +0.543 20 laps
8 Oscar Piastri +1.109 23 laps
9 Hiroki Tsunoda +1.174 20 laps
10 Lando Norris +1.184 22 laps
11 Esteban Ocon +1.879 19 laps
12 Alexander Albon +1.887 18 laps
13 Nico Hulkenberg +1.902 19 laps
14 Valtteri Bottas +1.998 17 laps
15 Lance Stroll +1.999 17 laps
16 Ayumu Iwasa +2.047 22 laps
17 Pierre Gasly +2.221 23 laps
18 Zhou Guanyu +2.582 18 laps
19 Kevin Magnussen +2.747 21 laps
20 Logan Sargent +3.148 10 laps
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