McLaren set the pace on a disruption packed day at Suzuka

Norris clocked a 1:28.549 to lead the opening free practice session on Friday morning, ahead of Red Bull and Ferrari, while Piastri was down in 15th, over a second off the pace.

The Australian bounced back impressively in FP2, posting a 1:28.114 on the soft tyres before red flags halted running. His lap remained unbeaten, with Norris just 0.049s behind in second.

Piastri reported afterwards: “It’s been a bit of an up-and-down day but there’s definitely been positives in there. We’ve got a few things to tidy up for tomorrow. FP2 was a pretty stop-start session, which made it tricky to go through everything but there were still some good learnings. A couple of tweaks and we’ll be good to go.”

Norris, who took the lead in the early part of FP2 before Piastri’s flier, was also encouraged by McLaren’s form at the high-speed Japanese circuit: “A good first day back on track.

"It takes a little bit of time to get back in the rhythm of things around here because it’s so quick, but the car is in a reasonable place. We’ll work together overnight to make some changes going into tomorrow, but I'm feeling positive," added Norris.

Red flag interruptions in FP2 – including a heavy crash for Alpine’s Jack Doohan – limited long-run data collection across the grid, including at McLaren.

Team principal Andrea Stella acknowledged the setbacks but remained satisfied with the team’s progress: “It’s been a relatively productive day of practice here in Suzuka, despite the second session having been interrupted by a few Red Flags for different reasons.

"We are all relieved to see that Jack Doohan could walk away from what was a big crash, which left us worried for a few seconds.

“Overall, we would have liked to have taken a bit more of a look at the behaviour of the tyres, but it’s the same for everyone, so we will now try to put together all of the information we have acquired to be prepared for Qualifying and the race.”

McLaren head into Saturday’s action aiming to convert their promising one-lap pace into a strong grid position, as the battle at the front continues to evolve in the 2025 Formula 1 season.