Carlos Sainz was fastest for Toro Rosso during a very wet opening practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix which saw just 12 drivers set a time.
Sainz mastered the conditions to set a 1:49.434, half a second quicker than Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat, whilst Nico Rosberg was third fastest for Mercedes.
There were some scary moments for several drivers; Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen all did well not to end up in the wall.
2015 Japanese Grand Prix Practice Times (FP1):
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 01 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | 1:49.434 | – | 10 |
| 02 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull | 1:49.938 | 0.504 | 7 |
| 03 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:50.077 | 0.643 | 14 |
| 04 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:50.519 | 1.085 | 12 |
| 05 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:50.722 | 1.288 | 6 |
| 06 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:50.940 | 1.506 | 10 |
| 07 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1:51.212 | 1.778 | 15 |
| 08 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:52.288 | 2.854 | 12 |
| 09 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:53.820 | 4.386 | 12 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:53.964 | 4.530 | 14 |
| 11 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:54.013 | 4.579 | 9 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:55.678 | 6.244 | 6 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | – | – | 1 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | – | – | 4 |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India | – | – | 3 |
| 16 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | – | – | 5 |
| 17 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus | – | – | 1 |
| 18 | Jolyon Palmer | Lotus | – | – | 1 |
| 19 | Will Stevens | Marussia | – | – | 3 |
| 20 | Alexander Rossi | Marussia | – | – | 4 |
