SUZUKA, Japan, April 5 (Xinhua) -- McLaren's Lando Norris set the pace in the final practice for Sunday's Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit.

The Briton had bailed out of two push laps before setting his benchmark time of 1:27.965, some 0.2s faster than last year's pole position time.

Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri was second fastest, just 0.026s adrift, as championship leader McLaren once again looks the team to beat ahead of qualifying later on Saturday.

Behind the two McLarens came George Russell, who looked confident in his Mercedes, with the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton fourth and sixth.

Red Bull had an unassuming session, with world champion Max Verstappen only fifth and complaining that his car was "undriveable" in some corners.

Verstappen's new teammate Yuki Tsunoda was ninth, though the Japanese took to team radio to voice his satisfaction with the overall handling of his RB21.

While several drivers ran slightly wide at the Degner curves, and Carlos Sainz took to the grass to avoid a slower car, there was no repeat of the enormous shunt suffered by Jack Doohan on Friday, with the Australian back out on track on Saturday after his Alpine mechanics managed to repair the considerable damage to his A525.

Just as had happened in FP2, the session was halted on two occasions as the trackside grass caught fire, presumably having been caused by sparks from the cars' undertrays being carried there by the gusts of wind that have been a feature of life at Suzuka this weekend. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)