George Russell edges Kimi Antonelli as Mercedes set early practice pace in Japan

Formula One championship leader George Russell edged out teammate Kimi Antonelli in a Mercedes one-two at the top of the timesheets in Friday's opening practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Briton set a pace of one minute, 31.666 seconds on a cool and sunny day at the Suzuka track. Antonelli, fired up from his first grand prix triumph at the last race in China, was 0.026 seconds slower.

Reigning champion Lando Norris led McLaren's charge in third place ahead of Australian teammate Oscar Piastri.

The pair were 0.132 seconds and 0.199 seconds off Russell's pace in an encouraging start to the weekend for the reigning constructors' champions.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc ended the session fifth ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Russell and Antonelli have both won one Sunday race each but the Briton leads the 19-year-old by four points in the overall standings, having won the season-opener in Australia and also the Saturday sprint in China.

The pair, who have locked out the front row in every qualifying session so far, have finished both Sunday races in one-two formation and could hand Mercedes their first hat-trick of season-opening one-two finishes since 2019.

Four-times world champion Max Verstappen, winner at Suzuka for the last four years, was seventh for Red Bull, 0.791 seconds off the pace.

Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls was eighth ahead of Haas racer Esteban Ocon. Rookie Arvid Lindblad in the other Racing Bulls rounded out the top 10.

The session passed without major incident, though Williams driver Alex Albon went off into the gravel at the high-speed Degner corners and later collided with the Cadillac of Mexican Sergio Perez.

Norris, who like his teammate Piastri failed to start in China because of electrical issues, spent much of the first half of the session in the garage before setting his headline time.

Aston Martin propped up the timesheets at what is a home event for power unit partners Honda, with Lance Stroll ahead of Jak Crawford, who stood in for Fernando Alonso.

(Reporting by Abhishek Takle, Editing by Peter Rutherford)