Lando Norris led a McLaren one-two in final practice for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, beating team-mate Oscar Piastri by just under three hundredths of a second. George Russell took third place for Mercedes just over tenth adrift of the top two.

At the start of session, Jack Doohan was one of the first on track as the Alpine driver attempted to make up for time lost following his heavy crash early in Friday’s second practice session. 

The Australian bid was interrupted just six minutes into the session as red flags were shown for a fire in the grass as the side of the track in Turn 12. 

After a short seven-minute delay, running resumed with early Hard tyre leader Max Verstappen quickly supplanted by a flurry of times set on Soft compound Pirelli tyres. Norris moved the top of the timesheet but his stay was brief as Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took turns at the top of the order. 

Piastri then took top spot with a time of 1:28.768, before Russell eclipsed him at the head of the leaderboard with a time of 1m28.385. Piastri found more time on his next flyer, however and he stretched well ahead with a lap of 1m27.991s to take top by almost four tenths of a second. Meanwhile, Norris bailed out of a flyer after going slightly wide.

The championship-leading McLaren driver soon corrected the error, however, and he posted a time of 1m27.965, which stood as the session’s best time to the flag. 

Russell managed to close the gap to the top to just over a tenth a second ahead of Leclerc, while Verstappen took fifth place for Red Bull. The Dutchman had been largely anonymous for much of the session and a first attempt on Softs left him just a tenth ahead of new team-mate Yuki Tsunoda. He made a second attempt late on, however, and managed to stretch the gap to the Japanese driver to three tenths and to close the gap to Leclerc to less than a tenth of a second. 

Hamilton was sixth ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly. Tsunoda was left with ninth place ahead of former Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar.

2025 FIA Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix – Free Practice 3 
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:27.965 17 237.653
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:27.991 0.026 17 237.583
3 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.077 0.112 15 237.351
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.414 0.449 13 236.446
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:28.497 0.532 21 236.224
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:28.524 0.559 13 236.152
7 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:28.554 0.589 19 236.072
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:28.603 0.638 15 235.942
9 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:28.785 0.820 15 235.458
10 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:28.786 0.821 16 235.456
11 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:28.846 0.881 22 235.297
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:29.104 1.139 19 234.615
13 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:29.126 1.161 20 234.557
14 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:29.767 1.802 15 232.882
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:29.772 1.807 17 232.869
16 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:30.084 2.119 17 232.063
17 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:30.134 2.169 13 231.934
18 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:30.183 2.218 17 231.808
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:30.267 2.302 16 231.592
20 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:30.621 2.656 17 230.688