Nico Rosberg led a one-two for the Mercedes drivers during the first practice session as Red Bull avoided showing their potential.
Mercedes and Ferrari led the times on the soft rubber but Red Bull did not use the fastest available compounds during the opening session.
Rosberg’s best effort was over a second quicker than any non-Mercedes driver could manage and two-tenths up on his team mate’s time. Behind the Ferraris Daniel Ricciardo was the quicker of the two Red Bulls, 1.6 seconds off
Both Force India drivers were in the top ten having run the soft tyres, unlike rivals Williams and McLaren.
The tricky Suzuka track left some teams with damage to repair. Fernando Alonso’s car got away from him at Spoon early in the session and he went backwards into the barrier. The McLaren driver limped back to the pits with a broken rear wing, but returned to the track later to set the ninth-fastest time.
Not for the first time in recent races, Romain Grosjean had a braking problem on his Haas. He understeered wide in the Degner curves and hit the barrier hard enough to damage his front wing mounting. He too made his way back to the pits, telling his team “the brakes didn’t brake” as he did.
Jolyon Palmer ended the session at the bottom of the times. An electrical problem which limited him to just 13 laps.
First practice visual gaps
Nico Rosberg – 1’32.431
+0.215 Lewis Hamilton – 1’32.646
+1.094 Sebastian Vettel – 1’33.525
+1.386 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’33.817
+1.681 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’34.112
+1.948 Max Verstappen – 1’34.379
+2.099 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’34.530
+2.336 Sergio Perez – 1’34.767
+2.572 Fernando Alonso – 1’35.003
+2.950 Valtteri Bottas – 1’35.381
+3.015 Daniil Kvyat – 1’35.446
+3.241 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’35.672
+3.257 Romain Grosjean – 1’35.688
+3.536 Felipe Nasr – 1’35.967
+3.738 Felipe Massa – 1’36.169
+3.788 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’36.219
+3.863 Marcus Ericsson – 1’36.294
+4.391 Kevin Magnussen – 1’36.822
+5.366 Esteban Ocon – 1’37.797
+5.535 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’37.966
+5.561 Jolyon Palmer – 1’37.992
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
"Feedback on the upshifts and downshifts please mate"
Verstappen: "They're really bad"
"A little bit more please!"#F1 #JapaneseGP— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016
Hulkenberg: "Right-hand-side mirror has gone again, can't see anything there." #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016
Verstappen: "Down-shifts like a handbrake". #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016
Kvyat said: "Oh the octopus is back." Then: "It's quit a small one. A baby octopus." #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016
Kvyat told: "Can think about compromising turn six to help turn seven [Dunlop] performance." #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016
Rosberg: "Problem with some engine cuts." #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016
Bottas told: "OK now two laps of the Bottas saving". #F1 #JapaneseGP
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) October 7, 2016
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th October 2016, 3:57
From the creators of “the brakes breaked”, this weekend we have “the brakes didn’t brake”.
Haas really needs to improve on this. It must not be funny to get in a car that you don’t know how’s going to react while braking.
zimkazimka (@zimkazimka)
7th October 2016, 5:21
Also featuring “a baby octopus”.
BasCB (@bascb)
7th October 2016, 5:44
Indeed, a serious issue with those brakes.
nase
7th October 2016, 7:33
@bascb
Yeah, that’s pretty worrying. The failure at Sepang was already very scary, and if Haas can’t make sure this won’t happen again, because who knows what might’ve happened had there not been hundreds of metres of obstacle-free runoff, I’d be feeling rather uneasy in Grosjean’s place as well.
Biggsy
7th October 2016, 4:51
I have a feeling we might see McLaren finish ahead of Williams on pure pace this weekend…
At least Fernando’s due to new PU spec.
BOSS
7th October 2016, 5:28
Go Lewus go!