{"id":289561,"date":"2023-09-22T07:37:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T07:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=289561"},"modified":"2023-09-22T07:37:00","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T07:37:00","slug":"verstappen-fastest-in-first-practice-session-at-japanese-grand-prix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/racing\/f1\/verstappen-fastest-in-first-practice-session-at-japanese-grand-prix\/","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen fastest in first practice session at Japanese Grand Prix"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Max Verstappen is fastest in practice at the Japanese Grand Prix&#8230; as the world champion looks to bounce back from his 10-race winning streak ending in Singapore<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Max Verstappen had won 10 races in a row ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>However, the world champion finished in fifth place to end his imperious streak<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>He hopes to bounce back in Japan and was quickest in Friday&#8217;s practice sessions<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Max Verstappen&#8217;s Japanese revenge mission got off to the perfect start on Friday as the reigning world champion topped the leaderboard after a ferocious set of practice sessions.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen, 25, is in a relentless mood here after his shock fifth-place finish in Singapore last weekend saw his 10-race winning run come to an end.<\/p>\n<p>His lap time of 1:30.688 was over a second faster than Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, a pitiful reflection of the beleaguered Mexican&#8217;s season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Carlos Sainz, winner of the race in Marina Bay, was half a second behind the Dutchman, while his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc came closest to Verstappen&#8217;s time, trailing the world championship-elect by three tenths.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen said the track &#8216;felt very nice&#8217; on the simulator ahead of Friday&#8217;s practice, and that translated onto the Honda circuit, with the championship leader finding joy on Suzuka&#8217;s long, fast corners.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/08\/75718473-12548197-Max_Verstappen_was_quickest_in_the_first_practice_session_at_the-a-9_1695366677394.jpg\" height=\"430\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Max Verstappen was quickest in the first practice sessions at the Japanese Grand Prix\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/08\/75718483-12548197-The_world_champion_is_hoping_to_bounce_back_from_his_fifth_place-a-10_1695366677395.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The world champion is hoping to bounce back from his fifth place finish in Singapore last week<\/p>\n<p>Aside from one moan on the radio regarding\u00a0George Russell&#8217;s track position during a hot lap, it was smooth-sailing for the Dutchman, an ominous warning for the rest of the grid.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Max laid down a statement of intent with his first flying lap of the weekend, which was truly impressive,&#8217; purred Christian Horner, the Red Bull chief quietly confident his team can return to the top step of the podium here.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It is a good starting point, but we should hopefully have a strong car here this weekend.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Any repeat of the issues they faced last week in Marina Bay?<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Not so far, but I think that was very much circuit-specific. Hopefully this is a circuit that is a little more conventional and plays to the car&#8217;s strengths, not weaknesses.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>While Verstappen cannot win the championship here, Red Bull can seal the constructors&#8217; title, should the team outscore Mercedes by one point.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The early indications are that they will do so at a canter, with Lewis Hamilton well off the pace in P16 and P14 across both sessions, while George Russell went fifth-fastest by the end of the day.<\/p>\n<p>Lando Norris, who finished second in Singapore last time out, was third fastest in both sessions, while Japanese hero and AlphaTauri star Yuki Tsunoda was well down the field in P18.<\/p>\n<p>The second practice run was brought to a close with three minutes remaining, after Alpine&#8217;s Pierre Gasly locked up on Turn 9 and hit the barrier, causing the session to be red flagged.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/08\/75718481-12548197-Red_Bull_chief_Christian_Horner_right_insisted_Verstappen_laid_d-a-11_1695366677396.jpg\" height=\"425\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Red Bull chief Christian Horner (right) insisted Verstappen laid down a statement in practice<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/formulaone\/article-12548197\/Max-Verstappen-Japanese-Grand-Prix-Singapore.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Max Verstappen is fastest in practice at the Japanese Grand Prix&#8230; as the world champion looks to bounce back from his 10-race winning streak ending <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/racing\/f1\/verstappen-fastest-in-first-practice-session-at-japanese-grand-prix\/\" title=\"Verstappen fastest in first practice session at Japanese Grand Prix\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Verstappen fastest in first practice session at Japanese Grand Prix - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/racing\/f1\/verstappen-fastest-in-first-practice-session-at-japanese-grand-prix\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Verstappen fastest in first practice session at Japanese Grand Prix - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Max Verstappen is fastest in practice at the Japanese Grand Prix&#8230; 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