Antonelli sets the pace for FP3 in Japan

Written by Maham Mir

Credit: Formula One

The final hour of practice at one of the most loved circuits on the calendar has arrived with all the teams aiming to collect crucial pieces of data. Both free practice sessions on Friday were led by two different drivers and this trend continued for FP3.

FP3 was topped by Kimi Antonelli with a 1:29.362 ahead of teammate George Russell with a gap of 0.254s with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc 0.867s back on the young Italian driver.

Both Alpine drivers, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, were quick to emerge onto the track. They were closely followed by the Cadillac pairing and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who is yet to complete a Grand Prix in 2026.

Reliability issues have been a key part of this weekend, and the new regulations as a whole, with many drivers running reduced programmes after being relegated to their garages for the first two practice sessions. One of the drivers who has had a difficult time in Suzuka so far has been Arvid Lindblad, 2026’s only rookie driver who has never raced on this circuit before.

After 15 minutes, it was the Ferrari pair at the top of the timesheets with Hamilton marginally ahead by 0.038s of teammate Leclerc. However, the Ferrari duo were shown up by Formula One’s latest Grand Prix winner Antonelli who put a gap of six-tenths between himself and Hamilton.

After a difficult and disrupted Friday, reigning world champion Lando Norris was relegated to the garage for a large part of the session after a battery issue was confirmed by McLaren. His teammate Oscar Piastri remained in the mix with the other front-runners on a weekend where the team has stated: “Since the opening double-header, the team has worked hard to understand how to extract performance from the 2026 regulation power units, and some progress has been made in this area.”

At the 30 minute mark, the Audi pairing of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hülkenberg demonstrated an impressive showing as they slotted in P6 and P8 respectively. In comparison, also on the medium tyres, Red Bull were only able to manage P9 with Max Verstappen and P11 with Isack Hadjar.

While the senior Red Bull team struggled for pace, Lindblad emerged as the fastest driver in the Red Bull family. Slotting in P7 and 1.370s off the pace with less than 30 minutes to go, the rookie was making up for lost time having only completed one lap in FP2.

With just under 25 minutes on the clock, Norris set off for his first timed laps of the day. Having been on the backfoot compared to Piastri over the course of the weekend so far, the reigning world champion will be hoping for a smooth qualifying and race. 

McLaren have been forced to deal with reliability issues across both garages so far in 2026 | Credit: Formula One

A yellow flag was briefly waved as Haas’ Ollie Bearman spun; however he was able to escape without any damage to the bodywork of his car. Bearman, this weekend and over the course of the season so far, has been a standout midfield driver and will be hoping to continue his points scoring run in Japan. 

In the final 10 minutes of the session, everyone took to the track for their customary qualifying simulation laps with brand new soft tyres for almost all the drivers. Antonelli stayed at the top of the timesheets with a 1:29.362s with Russell following closely behind.

Behind the top three, McLaren remained in the best of the rest category with Piastri in P4 and Norris in P6 despite the latter’s incredibly reduced running. Splitting the two McLarens, Hamilton was 1.021s off-the pace set by his former team.

Continuing their good run from the early parts of the session, Audi were able to stay in the top 10 with Hülkenberg in P7 and Bortoleto in P9. In between the two Audis, Verstappen, despite his difficulties with his set-up, was able to finish P8 as the only Red Bull driver in the top 10.

Gasly rounded off the top 10 and represented the sixth different constructor in the top 10, proving that the midfield battle and the fight for best of the rest is far from over.

Looking Ahead

Suzuka has always delighted fans in recent years with exciting racing where action is almost guaranteed. For the front-runners, McLaren with Piastri will hope to stay in the mix with their recent uptake in performance as Red Bull struggle to keep up with the pace of the three teams ahead. In the midfield, the battle for Q3 will be immensely close between the likes of Haas, Alpine and Audi if they can keep their reliability issues in check. 

Could a surprise pole position be on the cards or will it be smooth sailing, yet again, for the Silver Arrows with Russell or Antonelli on top? It’s all to play for ahead of qualifying in Japan.