Lewis Hamilton claimed the early honours as he led a Mercedes 1-2 in first practice at the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday.
Despite a risk of rain from a nearby typhoon, conditions were dry at Suzuka albeit with high humidity and still a few damp patches around the circuit.
Even so, lap times were still a second faster than Practice 1 a year ago with the current championship leader posting a 1m28.691s on the Soft compound tyre on his first flying lap after the mid-session lull.
Teammate Valtteri Bottas was almost 0.450s behind in second but using the Medium compound Pirelli as the two Silver Arrows swapped tyre strategy with the Finn using the yellow-striped Soft for the first 40 minutes.
With the risk of rain, Red Bull got out early to complete their first runs as they trialled two different wing levels, later both drivers would switch to the Supersoft tyre with Daniel Ricciardo taking third, almost half a second up on Max Verstappen down in sixth.
It is possible, however, the Dutchman was caught out by traffic as several drivers had to back off or take avoiding action approaching the final chicane.
Indeed, Pierre Gasly will be seeing the stewards after the session following a near-miss with Hamilton as the Briton had to miss the chicane to avoid the slow-moving Toro Rosso.
That. Was. CLOSE! ?
Hamilton encounters a slow Gasly on the racing line, narrowly avoiding him
The incident will be investigated after the session#JapaneseGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/PzcGu5622t
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 5, 2018
Sebastian Vettel would also lose around a second in the final sector on his flying lap due to traffic, leaving him in fifth albeit within a tenth of Ferrari partner Kimi Raikkonen as the Finn struggled for grip.
In the midfield, Esteban Ocon ran ‘best of the rest’ in seventh for Force India. Romain Grosjean followed in eighth but suffered from ERS problems in the final minutes which also impacted his braking in the Haas.
The two Sauber’s continue to look competitive also with Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson completing the top 10.
Despite his earlier moment with Hamilton and also going off track at Turn 2 out of the pits at one point, Gasly ran a strong 11th on a big weekend for Toro Rosso’s engine supplier Honda at their home race on a circuit they own at Suzuka.
Carlos Sainz followed in 12th for Renault in front of Sergio Perez and birthday boy Kevin Magnussen who both trailed their relative teammates.
Towards the back, Lance Stroll ran 16th for Williams with Fernando Alonso producing the most notable off during first practice as he lost the rear on the grass entering Degner 1 and was fortunate to avoid the barriers as he slid into the gravel before continuing.
This is the result ?
He did VERY well to keep out of the barriers, and get back out of the gravel too!#JapaneseGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/n6NpaMiMB5
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 5, 2018
The Spaniard was 18th and six-tenths clear of Lando Norris as the 2019 race driver gained more valuable experience by turning some laps of Suzuka. Both McLaren’s pace was hampered by being the only team to run the Medium tyre all session.
Full results can be seen below:
