By Joe Man
McLaren Dominate Amid Red Flag Chaos
The first two practice sessions at Suzuka are complete, and as expected, McLaren appears to be the team to beat. Lando Norris was fastest in Practice 1, while teammate Oscar Piastri topped the timesheets in FP2. The McLaren car looks perfectly balanced in the corners, and the onboard footage makes it appear as though it’s a car you can trust to navigate the long, sweeping turns of Suzuka with ease.
Much of the attention has been on Yuki Tsunoda, making his debut with the Red Bull senior team, and he looked impressive in Practice 1. He was close to his new teammate, Max Verstappen, and appeared calm and focused on the task at hand. While this will no doubt please Red Bull management, there are concerns about the car’s performance. Verstappen is clearly struggling, and the car seems difficult to handle. The reigning world champion could be seen wrestling with the steering wheel through corners that McLaren breezed through effortlessly. However, Red Bull is known for making last-minute adjustments, so they will be hopeful of finding some improvements in the data before tomorrow’s sessions.
Practice 2 was a chaotic session, with four red flags interrupting the action. The first was triggered by a shocking accident involving Jack Doohan, who hit the wall at 330 kph after spinning. He looked shaken and confused after being helped from the car but was later cleared following concussion tests. It appeared he carried too much speed into Turn 1, and the car snapped away from him in an instant. Not the start Doohan, under pressure at Alpine, would have wanted.
Fernando Alonso also continued his poor start to 2025, spinning and beaching his Aston Martin before two separate grass fires from sparks off the cars brought out two more red flags.
Meanwhile, George Russell and the Ferrari drivers looked relatively close in terms of pace, but they will be hoping to find improvements overnight to challenge McLaren.
Very little was learned in FP2 due to all the incidents and red flags, so the true competitive spread of the field is still unclear. However, expect Red Bull to find some pace tomorrow. If they do, Verstappen could find himself in a battle with Mercedes and Ferrari. Whether he can challenge McLaren, though, remains uncertain.
Yuki Tsunoda will also have gained valuable experience in his new Red Bull, and his performance tomorrow will be interesting to watch. Can he delight the fans and get his red bull on the front row?
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