Championship leader George Russell topped Formula 1's first free practice session at Suzuka's Japanese Grand Prix, narrowly beating Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 0.026 seconds. This result underscores Mercedes' continued early-season supremacy, with both drivers securing the top two times after switching to Pirelli's softest compound. Russell's 1m31.666s on softs followed a quicker 1m31.755s on hard tyres, while Antonelli improved to 1m31.692s. The tiny margin highlights the intense battle within the Mercedes camp.

McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc followed, with Piastri getting within 0.199s of Russell as the Woking squad aims to bounce back from double non-starts in China due to battery issues. Leclerc and Hamilton conceded around three tenths to Mercedes, comfortably ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in fifth and sixth. Williams' Alex Albon had a scare, going off at Degner and later colliding with Sergio Perez, damaging his front wing. At Aston Martin, reserve driver Jak Crawford completed just 11 laps in Fernando Alonso's car, propping up the timesheet as the team battles reliability concerns with their power unit package.