McLaren tips Mercedes as biggest F1 rival at Japanese GP

McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri believe Mercedes will be their biggest opponent in this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

After winning one race apiece in Australia and China, Norris and Piastri are the favourites to win in Japan and Friday’s practice running did little to suggest otherwise – Norris topped FP1 and Piastri headed a disjointed FP2 punctuated by four red flags.

Although Norris felt McLaren was “still at the top”, he was impressed by George Russell’s pace in first practice as the Mercedes driver’s best lap was just 0.163s behind the McLaren.

Russell’s rookie team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli could not get a representative lap together, but looked competitive on long run pace.

“I still think we’re at the top, but George was very quick this morning, just as quick as us,” Norris said.

“So, I think Mercedes are in a good place. Maybe Red Bull looked a little bit further off, but they have looked further off into qualifying and then they get a bit closer again.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“FP2 was just a messy session, so I don’t think this session was probably the best example of where everyone was. I think maybe FP1 was a better example that you kind of saw teams in order. But I still expect it to be close and a tough battle tomorrow.

“I hope it’s nice and easy for us, but I’m sure Mercedes at least – and definitely George from today’s showing – will be challenging us a bit tomorrow.

“We made some steps forward, but there are still some things to try and improve. It was tricky just because of the wind. You’re on such a fine limit for such a long time, like the first sector.

“The tiniest bit of wind can really upset the car quite a lot. I’m sure everyone is struggling with a similar thing.”

Piastri echoed his team-mate’s comments when asked about F1’s pecking order in Japan: “It’s really hard to know. In FP1 it was difficult to get pace out of the car. In FP2 I was much more comfortable, but I think Mercedes looked very quick as well.

“I’m feeling confident that we’ve got good pace for the rest of the weekend, but it’s still a little bit tricky at this point, so I think we’ve still got to be on our toes.”

McLaren lead the constructors’ standings after the opening two weekends of the 2025 season and the British outfit is 21 points ahead of second-placed Mercedes.