Alpine's Alonso finished first in wet first F1 practice at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Auto Racing General

Alpine's Alonso finished first in wet first F1 practice at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Alpine's Fernando Alonso finished fastest ahead of Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in a wet first practice session for Formula 1's 2022 Japanese Grand Prix.

It is the first time Japan has hosted an F1 race since 2019 after a three-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alpine's Alonso was 0.315s faster than Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in the rain-hit first practice. Charles Leclerc ended up 0.386s back in the second Ferrari, with Esteban Ocon seven-tenths slower than his pace-setting Alpine teammate Alonso in fourth.

Kevin Magnussen became the first driver to head out of the circuit after five minutes and he was so joined by home hero Yuki Tsunoda.