Piastri on Top in Disrupted Session: Oscar Piastri set the fastest time in a heavily disrupted second free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix. The session at Suzuka was plagued by four red flags, significantly limiting running for all drivers.
Doohan’s Heavy Crash Halts Session: The first red flag was caused by a significant accident involving Alpine’s Jack Doohan. After only four laps, Doohan lost control of his car at the entry to Turn 1, resulting in a high-speed spin and heavy impact with the barriers. While Doohan reported being uninjured, the extensive barrier damage caused a delay of over 20 minutes.
Further Disruptions: The session faced further interruptions. Fernando Alonso beached his Aston Martin in the gravel at Turn 8, triggering another red flag. Additionally, dry patches of grass alongside the track caught fire twice, likely due to sparks from cars bottoming out, requiring marshals to extinguish the flames.
Limited Running Impacts Timesheets: The frequent stoppages severely limited the amount of consistent running for the drivers. Many teams were unable to complete their qualifying simulation runs on the soft compound tyres, making the final timesheet potentially unrepresentative of true performance.
McLaren Leads the Way: Despite the chaos, the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris topped the session. Piastri’s best time of 1:28.114 placed him just half a tenth ahead of his teammate. Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar impressed, finishing third, four tenths adrift of Piastri.
Top Performers: Lewis Hamilton was fifth for Ferrari, followed by Liam Lawson in the second Racing Bulls car. George Russell placed sixth for Mercedes.
Free Practice 2 Results:
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren/Mercedes) 1:28.114
- Lando Norris (McLaren/Mercedes) +0.049
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT) +0.404
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.430
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT) +0.445
- George Russell (Mercedes) +0.453
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.472
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull/Honda RBPT) +0.556
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine/Renault) +0.643
- Carlos Sainz (Williams/Mercedes) +0.718
- Alexander Albon (Williams/Mercedes) +0.909
- Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber/Ferrari) +0.948
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber/Ferrari) +1.221
- Esteban Ocon (Haas/Ferrari) +1.393
- Oliver Bearman (Haas/Ferrari) +1.540
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.619
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin/Mercedes) +1.864
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull/Honda RBPT) +2.511
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin/Mercedes) +2.731
- Jack Doohan (Alpine/Renault) +3.545
Source : FIA
This article was crafted with assistance from Gemini