The start of the opening practice session for the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix would see the normal rush of drivers taking to the circuit to complete their installation lap. Both AT&T Williams drivers, Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima, had been out. All the cars were running with the Bridgestone tyres with the green bands as part of the tyre companies "Make Cars Greener" campaign. Only the Ferrari's had yet to come out. Vettel would return to the track but he would just as quickly return to his pit. With twenty minutes of the session run it would be Glock who was fastest, 1m:21.330, from team-mate Trulli, 1m:21.799. Raikkonen had been out but had pitted. Bourdais would be the next driver to leave the pit lane. He was joined by Piquet.

Glock would improve with a 1m:21.201, while Piquet would move into second, 1m:21.453, followed by Bourdais. Trulli was again second, 1m:21.377, but Piquet would move ahead with a 1m:21.223. Trulli would pit. Piquet would move fastest with a 1m:20.347, while Raikkonen was fourth. But Kimi would move to the top of the times with a 1m:19.985. Bourdais was third, 1m:29.563. Glock was fourth followed by Webber, and Trulli. Both Williams drivers were out on the track with Kazuki currently in seventh, 1m:21.582. Raikkonen would improve with a 1m:19.522. Massa had still not taken to the circuit with fifty five minutes remaining.

Piquet, Bourdais, and Glock had all pitted. Nico was now sixth, 1m:21.313, but Kazuki would move ahead of his team-mate with a 1m:21.281. Heidfeld was now eighth, 1m:21.313. Hamilton, Alonso, and Fisichella would take to the track. Hamilton was now second, 1m:19.791, while McLaren team-mate Kovalainen was in third, 1m:20.345, having moved up from twelfth. Both Raikkonen and Hamilton would improve with a 1m:19.420 and 1m:19.464 respectively. Alonso was now sixth, 1m:20.713. Kazuki was tenth, 1m:21.208, while team-mate Nico would improve moving up to eighth. But this would become ninth as Heidfeld went faster moving into eighth. Kazuki, who had pitted, was now down in fourteenth.

Raikkonen had again improved his quickest time with a 1m:19.399. Alonso was now third, 1m:19.877. Both Raikkonen and Hamilton had pitted. Nico had also returned to his pit as Vettel moved up to seventh, 1m:20.579. Piquet was back out. Massa was finally out on the track and would move into fourth, 1m:20.019. Alonso had improved with a 1m:19.780, but remained in third. Vettel was now fifth, 1m:20.267. Nico and Kazuki had dropped down the order to be fifteenth and eighteenth with forty five minutes of the session remaining. Massa was now third with a 1m:19.472. His next lap would see him move into second with a 1m:19.404 making it a Ferrari one-two.

With forty minutes left in the session the order was Raikkonen from Massa, Hamilton, Alonso, Kubica, Vettel, Piquet, Kovalainen, and Sutil was in ninth. Both Nico and Kazuki would return to the track. They were currently in sixteenth and eighteenth. Raikkonen and Hamilton were also back out, joined by Alonso. Kazuki would pit while Nico and Kazuki had dropped to now be in eighteenth and nineteenth. Nico had improved to be in fourteenth but others around him improved also. Hamilton was now fastest with a 1m:19.062. The top six drivers were all out on the track with just under thirty minutes remaining. Nico was now fifteenth, 1m:20.819, as Massa moved ahead of Raikkonen and into second, 1m:19.288.

Kazuki was still in his pit while Hamilton would improve with a 1m:18.910 to remain fastest while team -mate Kovalainen was now third, 1m:19.279. Hamilton would pit while Kazuki was finally back out after having spent a lengthy time in his pit. Kazuki was currently slowest. Raikkonen had also come into the pit lane while Hamilton was back out after making a short stop but would just as quickly come back in. Only a handful of drivers were out on the track, including both Williams drivers. Nico would improve one place to be fourteenth, 1m:20.722. His next lap would see him eleventh, 1m:20.558. But Kazuki was still slowest, 2.2 seconds behind the quickest time. Nico had pitted. Kazuki would follow shortly after still slowest.

Alonso was now fifth, 1m:19.530. With ten minutes remaining there was little change with Bourdais moving into eighth ahead of team-mate Vettel. Piquet was in sixth, 1m:20.148, right behind team-mate Alonso. Kazuki was back out with just over five minutes left in the session. Everyone except for Webber were out in the final minutes. Glock would pit, as Piquet improved his time with a 1m:19.743. Glock was back out as seventh placed Vettel came in. Kazuki would put in a quick time in the final minutes moving up to tenth, 1m:20.217. Nico was now in twelfth. Vettel had returned after making a quick stop. Webber was also back out as the session drew to a close.

With the end of the session the order was Hamilton from Massa, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Alonso, Piquet, Vettel, Kubica, Bourdais, and in tenth Kazuki. Nico was down in twelfth. As for the Williams team the session certainly showed that their is room for improvement but it is early days.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time     Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)   1:18.910 23
 2.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)   1:19.063 24
 3.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)   1:19.279 20
 4.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)   1:19.399 31
 5.  Alonso        Renault              (B)   1:19.473 30
 6.  Piquet        Renault              (B)   1:19.743 35
 7.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)   1:20.121 30
 8.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)   1:20.160 26
 9.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)   1:20.182 34
10.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)   1:20.217 25
11.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari  (B)   1:20.288 26
12.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota (B)   1:20.350 28
13.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)   1:20.620 24
14.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)   1:20.628 23
15.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)   1:20.657 33
16.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)   1:20.753 32
17.  Button        Honda                (B)   1:20.769 27
18.  Glock         Toyota               (B)   1:20.823 37
19.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)   1:20.905 24
20.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari  (B)   1:21.014 28