» Hamilton sets the early pace at Suzuka

Less than seven days on from their 1-2 triumph at the Russian Grand Prix, the Mercedes Formula 1 team was back to its best in the opening practice session at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan.

Lewis Hamilton – victor here in three of the last four Grands Prix staged at this true ‘drivers’ circuit’ – once again showed that he meant business by posting the fastest time of Friday’s opening 90-minute session, almost half a second quicker than teammate Valtteri Bottas.

More worrying for its rivals was that neither Silver Arrows driver bothered to use any of their Supersoft tyre compound allocation, while both Ferrari drivers ran exclusively on the weekend’s softest available rubber and only just scraped inside of one second of Hamilton’s best time. Kimi Räikkönen narrowly upstaged his teammate and Hamilton’s sole championship rival Sebastian Vettel, although the German encountered traffic on his quickest laps and could well have gone faster with a clear lap.

Up at the front, Hamilton – who leads Vettel by a hefty 50 points in the Drivers’ Championship standings – looked serene, although the Englishman survive a close call with Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman was trying to give himself enough clear track ahead of him before starting a flying lap, but was to learn that dawdling on the racing line in the braking zone for the Casio Triangle chicane is really not a smart place to be.

As Hamilton bore down on him at seemingly unabated speed, the championship leader managed to jink around the Toro Rosso at the last possible minute and slithered up the escape road. Gasly was summoned before the FIA Stewards and rightly handed a reprimand for his careless driving, his second such offence of the season.

Gasly also had his own trip through the grass during the session, while McLaren’s Fernando Alonso provided the most spectacular action with a wild spin through the gravel at the Degner curves when he dropped a wheel on the grass. The Spaniard was able to rejoin the action, but damaged his floor with his trip through the kitty litter.

The Red Bull Racing pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen sandwiched the two Ferraris in third and sixth respectively; the Australian outpaced his Dutch teammate – who celebrated his 21st birthday last weekend with a superb podium finish at Sochi – by the tune of almost half a second.

Leading the ‘best of the rest’ charge was Force India’s Esteban Ocon, who shaded his French countryman Romain Grosjean’s Haas Ferrari by two-tenths of a second. The ever-improving Saubers of Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top-ten.

FORMULA 1 2018 HONDA JAPANESE GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE SESSION 1 TIMES
	Driver	Team / Entry	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1W09	1:28.691		25
2.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1W09	1:29.137	+ 0.446	26
3.	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer RB14	1:29.373	+ 0.682	32
4.	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari SF71H	1:29.627	+ 0.936	20
5.	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari SF71H	1:29.685	+ 0.994	20
6.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer RB14	1:29.841	+ 1.150	30
7.	Esteban Ocon	Force India F1 Team Mercedes VJM11	1:30.591	+ 1.900	28
8.	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team Ferrari VF-18	1:30.814	+ 2.123	22
9.	Charles Leclerc	Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C37	1:30.929	+ 2.238	27
10.	Marcus Ericsson	Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team Ferrari C37	1:31.073	+ 2.382	29
11.	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda STR13	1:31.073	+ 2.382	20
12.	Carlos Sainz Jr	Renault Sport F1 Team RS18	1:31.100	+ 2.409	23
13.	Sergio Pérez	Force India F1 Team Mercedes VJM11	1:31.272	+ 2.581	29
14.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team Ferrari VF-18	1:31.274	+ 2.583	28
15.	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault Sport F1 Team RS18	1:31.418	+ 2.727	18
16.	Lance Stroll	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW41	1:31.508	+ 2.817	27
17.	Brendon Hartley	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda STR13	1:31.908	+ 3.217	23
18.	Fernando Alonso	McLaren F1 Team Renault MCL33	1:32.034	+ 3.343	21
19.	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams Martini Racing Mercedes FW41	1:32.513	+ 3.822	26
20.	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team Renault MCL33	1:32.683	+ 3.992	30