CHAMPIONSHIP leader Lando Norris again looks set for a battle with team-mate Oscar Piastri as the McLaren pair set the pace during practice for Japanese Grand Prix.

McLaren have won the first two races of the season — Norris winning in Australia and Piastri in China — and are favourites heading into this weekend at Suzuka.

Piastri finished the day on top, only 0.049 seconds clear of Norris who was over four tenths clear of third-placed Isack Hadjar.

Norris struggled early on in yesterday’s opening running before hooking up one fast lap to top the charts, narrowly ahead of fellow Briton George Russell.

Piastri finished only 15th in the first session but the second running was more representative of the dominant McLaren pace as the pair look the ones to beat heading into qualifying today.

Lewis Hamilton finished the day fourth fastest for Ferrari ahead of Liam Lawson on his return to Racing Bulls, having been ditched by Red Bull after only two races.

Mercedes’ Russell has flown under the radar so far this season but has finished third at the opening two races and again showed strong pace throughout both sessions.

He ended up sixth fastest during a disrupted second session, which was red-flagged four times.

The first came just over seven minutes in after Jack Doohan, who sat out first practice as Ryo Hirakawa drove the Alpine, suffered a high-speed crash into the barriers and lost two of his wheels at turn one.

Running resumed 23 minutes later before Fernando Alonso’s trip into the gravel brought out the second and grass catching fire at the side of the circuit twice caused the session to be halted.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was eighth fastest when the chequered flag fell, with new Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda down in 18th.

The Japanese driver had earlier made a solid start to life with his new team, finishing sixth-fastest in the first session and just over a tenth off the pace of Verstappen.