Japanese GP: Sainz Jr. tops wet opening practice
 |
| Carlos Sainz Jr. |
Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr. turned the fastest lap on a very wet Suzuka Circuit to top opening practice for the Japanese GP. His lap of 1m49.434s on intermediate tires beat the 2nd fastest driver, Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull, by 1/2 second. The first two drivers set their times on intermediate tires on a slightly drying track. The top drivers (Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel and Raikkonen) all set their times on full wets.
Nico Rosberg was 3rd in the Mercedes ahead of the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and the 2nd Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.
Only 12 drivers did a time lap, the rest figuring it to be a waste of time as the teams did not want to chance a damaged car. Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Perez, Alonso, Maldonado, Palmer, Stevens and Rossi all failed to set a time.
Results
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Behind | Laps |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m49.434s | 0.000s | 10 |
| 2 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 1m49.938s | 0.504s | 7 |
| 3 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes/Mercedes | 1m50.077s | 0.643s | 14 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari/Ferrari | 1m50.519s | 1.085s | 12 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes/Mercedes | 1m50.722s | 1.288s | 6 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m50.940s | 1.506s | 10 |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari/Ferrari | 1m51.212s | 1.778s | 15 |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m52.288s | 2.854s | 12 |
| 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m53.820s | 4.386s | 12 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m53.964s | 4.530s | 14 |
| 11 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m54.013s | 4.579s | 9 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m55.678s | 6.244s | 6 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | – | – | 1 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | – | – | 4 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | – | – | 3 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | – | – | 5 |
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus/Mercedes | – | – | 1 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus/Mercedes | – | – | 1 |
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia/Ferrari | – | – | 3 |
| 20 | Alexander Rossi | Marussia/Ferrari | – | – | 4 |