2014 Japanese Grand Prix Friday - Practice
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Daniil Kvyat has put his Toro Rosso seventh, 0.9s faster than team-mate Verstappen, who's now 11th.
Alonso gets ahead of Raikkonen to retake fourth, with Button then slipping between the Ferraris.
EDD STRAW is trackside during this session, watching from "above Turns 3 and 4":
"Verstappen, to nobody's great surprise, looks comfortable. Very early on, he shows himself comfortable with the car moving around and carrying respectable speed."
"Verstappen, to nobody's great surprise, looks comfortable. Very early on, he shows himself comfortable with the car moving around and carrying respectable speed."
Verstappen is currently ninth quickest, 2.8s off the pace.
Still waiting to see Chilton emerge from the pits. Everyone else has done a handful of laps.
Kimi Raikkonen's first flying lap puts him fourth, one tenth ahead of Ferrari team-mate Alonso.
Bottas goes faster but remains third, just under 0.6s behind pacesetter Rosberg.
Hamilton improves on his second lap but remains 0.113s down on Rosberg.
Stopwatch
Rosberg started out with a slow lap in 13th, but now he jumps to the top with a 1m36.437s, three tenths faster than Hamilton.
Button, Ricciardo and Maldonado have slotted into fourth, fifth and sixth.
A reply of Button's McLaren shows the car producing a lot of sparks - looks like something is dragging on the ground that shouldn't be.
Max Verstappen
BEN ANDERSON: "Many people will be watching FP1 to see how Red Bull's new protege Max Verstappen gets on on his GP weekend debut for Toro Rosso.
"I spoke to Valtteri Bottas yesterday, who said Suzuka is a tough place for a driver to make his F1 debut."
"It’s not an easy circuit, for sure," Bottas said. "But it’s a good test for the team of what he can do.
"Of course nowadays simulators are a massive help learning new tracks. I’m not sure if he’s raced here before but it’s not an easy place to start."
Stopwatch
Lewis Hamilton goes fastest on a 1m36.745s, seven tenths faster than Bottas.
Fernando Alonso was quickest in sector one but is second to Bottas as he completes his lap.
Yellow flag
Verstappen encounters yellow flags on his first flying lap - Merhi has spun at Spoon Curve.
The Caterham driver ran wide onto the asphalt run-off, and the car got away from him as he rejoined - just in front of Bottas!
The Caterham driver ran wide onto the asphalt run-off, and the car got away from him as he rejoined - just in front of Bottas!
Verstappen clocks a 1m43.824s to go second. He had to back off to avoid a spinner at Spoon.
Verstappen's first flying lap sector time as an F1 driver is 1.7s down on Bottas's initial benchmark.
Stopwatch
Valtteri Bottas swiftly beats the Caterham by 7.1 seconds with a 1m37.436s.
Stopwatch
Merhi kicks the day off with a 1m44.564s.
Caterham reveals on Twitter that Merhi has been sent out to complete '5 timed laps'.
A non-race-driver looks poised to do the first lap time of the morning, with Caterham's Roberto Merhi on a flying lap now.
Breaking news
We were expecting to see new Marussia reserve Will Stevens making his GP weekend debut in this session, but while his deal with the team is going ahead, his Suzuka outing isn't.
JONATHAN NOBLE has the full story:
Stevens misses out on Suzuka practice debut
JONATHAN NOBLE has the full story:
Stevens misses out on Suzuka practice debut
Gutierrez - sat in his car in the garage like most others - is wearing glasses in the car today.
Ricciardo breaks the silence with a practice start at the end of the pitlane.
Verstappen is using number 38 this weekend. That's not his choice - only race drivers get to choose their number.
All quiet on track at the moment. With the installation laps complete, the track should get busy soon as drivers make use of the first 30 minutes for their extra set of harder tyres.
Weather watch: the sun is out - we have shadows forming in the pits.
Button on the radio: "The pit limiter is terrible". There's a problem you don't hear very often in modern F1.
Verstappen has already told his team that one of the systems on the car "is not working in third gear".
Most of those straight out came straight back in again after one installation lap. The McLarens and Lotuses stay out for a second lap.
Twenty one of the 22 drivers take to the track within the first four minutes. It's just Max Chilton's Marussia that we're yet to see.
With the weather playing ball at the moment (no sign of a typhoon yet) Verstappen is sure to be the main focus of this session.
Max Verstappen is among this initial gaggle of drivers, the 17-year-old becoming F1's youngest driver in the process.
Green flag
The pitlane light goes green and Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull leads the first flurry of cars out on track.
Good morning and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live's Japanese Grand Prix practice coverage from a currently sunny Suzuka.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Glenn Freeman, Matt Beer, Ben Anderson
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