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F1 Japanese Grand Prix 2026: Free Practice 3 Results With More McLaren Issues

Check out the full results and report from the final practice session ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix.
Kaitlin Tucci|
George Russell, Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
George Russell, Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes | Mercedes-Benz Media

It's Day 2 of the Japanese Grand Prix with the final practice session of a weekend that was heavily focused on testing for many of the teams.

In Free Practice 1 and 2, on Friday, it was McLaren who seemed to find pace heading into the third race weekend of the year after a double DNS in China 2 weeks ago. Even so, the Mercedes' of Russell and Antonelli and the Ferrari's of Leclerc and Hamilton have been consistent in their pace — and, more importantly, reliable in the opening weeks.

The teams will use Free Practice 3 to set up their cars for the new qualifying rules around Suzuka, which the FIA announced earlier this week, decreasing the energy cap from 9 megajoules to 8 megajoules for the session.

McLaren's World Champion Nearly Misses FP3

Lando Norris' Japanese Grand Prix weekend was off to a solid start, finishing in P3 and P4, respectively, in Friday's practice sessions. However, his weekend has quickly unraveled after McLaren discovered an issue with the car that kept the reigning World Champion from participating in most of Free Practice 3.

Lando Norris McLaren
McLaren driver Lando Norris | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

After losing significant track time – albeit with the time on track showing pace – while the team worked through multiple problems, deeper issues tied to energy recovery and the ERS pack were identified overnight.

Effectively, Norris' McLaren is harvesting energy incorrectly. The discovery has forced McLaren to make changes that almost left him without the final practice before qualifying.

Largely Uneventful Free Practice 3

This is the final practice session before, as many of the teams have reminded us, the teams take time to work on the reliability and energy deployment of the cars in the unexpected one-month break before Miami.

Charles Leclerc Ferrari
Jun 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc (16) during the F1 Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images | David Kirouac-Imagn Images

With the 22 drivers putting in their qualifying practice laps, many of the results were as expected, with Mercedes and Ferrari on top, split by the pace that the McLarens have found despite their energy harvesting issues.

The finishing order for the top five was Mercedes' Antonelli and Russell, followed by the Ferrari of Leclerc, the McLaren of Piastri, and the Ferrari of Hamilton. Most notably, the gap between the top five was just over 1 second, with the largest pace difference being the Mercedes, as expected.

The true disappointment of the Free Practice sessions, though, is Red Bull Racing. The team brought a major update to their floor expecting a more significant pace after disappointing results to start the season from both Verstappen and Hadjar.

The pair finished FP3 in P8 and P11, respectively. This is miles below the benchmark that the team set for themselves earlier in the week. Verstappen complained of understeer "everywhere" throughout the session.

In a similar fashion to our other practice sessions in Japan, Cadillac's Perez and Bottas and Aston Martin's Alonso and Stroll took up the back of the pack. However, Aston Martin and Honda have announced that they finally have an answer to their vibration and pace issues, which can be addressed after Japan.

Audi's Bortoletto and Hulkenberg showed significant pace, finishing P7 and P9 respectively. This has been an interesting weekend for the team, having lost Team Principal Jonathan Wheatley earlier in the week. Even with a 'new team' and a leadership change, year-over-year progress has been significant.

Position

Driver/ Team

Gap [s]

1.

Kimi Antonelli/ Mercedes

1:29.362

2.

George Russell/ Mercedes

+0.254

3.

Charles Leclerc/ Ferrari

+0.867

4.

Oscar Piastri/ McLaren

+1.002

5.

Lewis Hamilton/ Ferrari

+1.021

6.

Lando Norris/ McLaren

+1.238

7.

Nico Hulkenberg/ Audi

+1.296

8.

Max Verstappen/ Red Bull

+1.548

9.

Gabriel Bortoleto/ Audi

+1.638

10.

Pierre Gasly/ Alpine

+1.720

11.

Isack Hadjar/ Red Bull

+1.732

12.

Liam Lawson/ VCARB

+1.735

13.

Arvid Lindblad/ VCARB

+1.926

14.

Esteban Ocon/ Haas

+1.964

15.

Oliver Bearman/ Haas

+2.196

16.

Alex Albon/ Williams

+2.371

17.

Carlos Sainz/ Williams

+2.397

18.

Franco Colapinto/ Alpine

+2.467

19.

Valtteri Bottas/ Cadillac

+3.141

20.

Sergio Perez/ Cadillac

+3.178

21.

Lance Stroll/ Aston Martin

+4.123

22.

Fernando Alonso/ Aston Martin

+4.209

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Kaitlin Tucci
KAITLIN TUCCI

Kaitlin Tucci has been a fan of motorsport for close to a decade. Before joining On SI in 2025, she contributed heavily to the marketing and media efforts at FanAmp, a motorsports startup for which she was the Head of Marketing. She has contributed to a number of publications covering series such as Formula 1, IndyCar, IMSA, and more... Kaitlin graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with both a degree in Business/Marketing and Political Science. She works full time as a marketer at high-growth tech startups while spending her weekends immersed in the world of racing. Kaitlin was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, but has lived in New York City for the past 5 years with her 'giant chihuahua' Willow. You'll often catch Willow watching races alongside Kaitlin, but unfortunately she doesn't have enough airline miles to join her at the track just yet.

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