Suzuka, April 5, 2025 – by GP Thread
The final practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix was once again interrupted by unusual scenes, as grass fires—sparked by the cars themselves—continued to disrupt the weekend. Despite the chaos, McLaren once again stamped its authority on the timesheets, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri consistently among the fastest.
Max Verstappen ended the session in fifth place, showing a slightly improved margin over teammate Yuki Tsunoda compared to Friday’s sessions.
Alpine Rebuilds, McLaren Leads, Fire Strikes Again
Alpine mechanics worked a near miracle overnight to repair Jack Doohan’s A525, which had suffered a major crash in FP2. The rookie returned to the track with confidence, running early laps in FP3. While he had another off-track moment in the opening minutes, it was far less dramatic—just a trip across the kerbs that kicked up dust but did no damage.
Just as Max Verstappen briefly topped the leaderboard—with only eight drivers having set a time—the session was red-flagged due to a small fire near the track. Despite efforts to prevent further incidents (grass was mowed short, dampened, and safety crews stationed throughout the circuit), the high-speed sparks continued to ignite dry patches. The resulting delay lasted ten minutes—a blow to teams still playing catch-up after losing over 30 minutes to red flags in FP2.
Quali Sims and Soft Tyres Late On
With this being the final session before qualifying, most teams dedicated FP3 to long-run data collection and setup refinement. Red Bull initially ran medium and hard compounds with both Verstappen and Tsunoda focusing on race simulations.
As the clock ticked down, Oscar Piastri once again looked sharp, going quickest with a narrow margin over Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. Later, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton would also dip below Piastri’s early benchmark.
With 15 minutes to go, Red Bull finally bolted on soft tyres for both drivers. Verstappen’s qualifying simulation was cleaner than Friday’s, beating Tsunoda by over three-tenths. Still, the reigning world champion was more than half a second slower than Norris, underlining McLaren’s impressive pace heading into qualifying.
The session ended prematurely once again after a second grass fire broke out, causing another red flag just five minutes from the end.