Formula 1: Tightly-wound Max Verstappen off the pace in free practice one in Japan

An edgy Max Verstappen won’t be feeling any better after free practice in Japan, clocking times a second behind pace setters Mercedes.

His on-track troubles come after the temperamental four-time champion ejected a journalist from his press scrum, and with his teammate Isak Hadjar citing technical difficulties for causing dangerous bouts of oversteer snap in session one.

Things only got worse for Verstappen, who is unbeaten in qualifying and the race in Japan since 2019, as the soft tyres came out in the afternoon, barely scraping into the top 10.

The situation at the famed Suzuka circuit looked much better for Australian Oscar Piastri and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

The Papaya pair both failed to start the Chinese Grand Prix a fortnight ago, and just a week after Piastri crashed out of his home race on the reconnaissance lap.

However, they both settled in behind Mercedes as the best-of-the-rest team on the first day of running ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix before Piastri posted the fastest time of free practice two.

George Russell, who claimed victory in Australia, topped the times in the first session but only narrowly over Silver Arrows compatriot Kimi Antonelli, who enters the weekend off the back of his maiden Grand Prix victory in China.

Ferrari pair Charles LeClerc and Lewis Hamilton also showed strong pace to remain inside half a second of Russell and Antonelli throughout the day, but Verstappen, who finished with the seventh-fastest time to start the day’s action, was more than 0.700 off the pace.

The Dutchman’s frustrations have gotten the better of him in recent times, especially at the start of the past two campaigns, when Red Bull struggled for pace.

Last year, the team were able to produce a remarkable turnaround that saw Verstappen come within two points of a fifth-straight world title.

But it was a question asked to him in the hours after that result in Abu Dhabi that prompted him to boot British journalist Giles Richards out of his Japan press conference on Thursday.

Richards asked Verstappen if he had “any regrets” about a collision with Russell at the Spanish Grand Prix on June 1 last year, which cost him a 10-second penalty and ultimately points that would have handed him the title.

It rankled the Red Bull ace, who seemingly saw the question as a British journalist rubbing the defeat in his face and that the Champion, Norris, is British.

The feud then flared again in Japan with Verstappen saying, “I’m not speaking before he’s leaving.”

Richards, who writes for The Guardian, departed the conference with Verstappen adding “get out”.