F1 Practice Today: Japanese Grand Prix 2025 start times, schedule and how to watch live on TV

Formula 1 hits Suzuka Circuit today (Friday, April 4, 2025) for practice ahead of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

Heading into the weekend, all eyes are on Red Bull Racing after a controversial driver swap since the last race in China. Liam Lawson is out after just two grands prix, demoted back to their junior team, Racing Bulls, whilst Yuki Tsunoda has gone the other way, replacing Lawson to become Max Verstappen's new team-mate.

Elsewhere in F1, people will be keeping a lookout for Ferrari and how they respond after a dismal Chinese Grand Prix. Although Lewis Hamilton won Saturday's sprint race in Shanghai, both he and his team-mate Charles Leclerc went on to be disqualified from Sunday's main event after what had already been a difficult day finishing in P5 and P6.

As a result, it's been a dismal start to the season for the Scuderia, who sit fifth in the constructors' championship with just 17 points, already 61 behind current championship leaders McLaren.

McLaren also top the drivers' standings at present, with Lando Norris leading the way ahead of Max Verstappen heading into the weekend.

With that said, let's take a look at when practice takes place in Japan and how you can watch it all unfold live.

F1 2025: Japanese Grand Prix start times

Practice action at the Japanese Grand Prix gets underway on Friday at 11:30 am local time (JST) with FP1. However, it will still technically be Thursday in the United States due to the time difference, with a start time of 10:30 pm (ET).

FP2 is set to take place three and a half hours later, with a start time on the east coast of 2 am (ET).

Saturday's third and final practice session in Japan begins at the same time as FP1, meaning the action will get underway at 10:30 pm (ET) on Saturday night.

Find all of the session start times converted to your local time zone below.

Japanese Grand Prix FP1 start times - Friday, April 4, 2025

Japanese Grand Prix FP2 start times - Friday, April 4, 2025

Japanese Grand Prix FP3 start times - Friday, April 4, 2025

How to watch F1 live on TV

Practice from the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix is set to be shown live on ESPN in the United States. However, different sessions are set to be shown in different places.

FP1 will be shown on ESPN+, for example, whilst FP2 will be shown live on ESPN2. On Saturday, F1 action returns to ESPN+ for FP3.

With that said, broadcast details do vary depending on your location. Please check the information below to see how to watch F1 in your respective country this season.

F1 action in 2025 is also available to watch via F1TV Pro in selected countries.

READ MORE: F1 2025 Schedule: Key dates and US start times for EVERY race this season

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