Alonso fastest in wet first F1 practice at Suzuka

Heavy rain in the 30 minutes leading up to the one-hour session at Suzuka meant no cars headed out when the pitlane opened, even though the precipitation had stopped coming down by the time the green exit light came on.

Kevin Magnussen became the first driver to head out after five minutes and he was so joined by home hero Yuki Tsunoda – although neither driver completed a timed lap, with Tsunoda reporting “a couple of rivers” on the track at the end of the first sector.

Nicholas Latifi, Mick Schumacher and Lance Stroll also ventured towards the end of the opening 15 minutes – but it was only the Haas driver that stayed out to set a time. Schumacher’s 1m52.237s therefore established the benchmark at 1m52.37s, set using the full wet tyres.

They were soon joined by more cars, with Leclerc saying he thought conditions would soon be suitable for intermediates.

 His teammate Carlos Sainz beat Schumacher’s time with his first flier on a 1m49.952s, before Leclerc, following a few seconds behind on the road, swept into first with a 1m49.103s.

The Ferrari cars continued to circulate and post quicker times on the full wets – first with Leclerc’s 1m38.104s and the Sainz, who had complained of hearing a strange sound from his engine, which thought might be coming from the turbo, forged ahead on a 1m47.758s.

Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas were the first drivers to head out on intermediates just past the halfway mark – the first two doing so for their first laps out in FP1.

As has become a near trademark move for Verstappen in FP1s this year, he duly immediately moved to the head of the times with his first flier – a 1m44.059s.  

Bottas and Ocon also then slotted in ahead of the Ferrari drivers using the green-walled rubber, as did Singapore winner Perez – albeit 2.886s behind his teammate, who had by them completed a second flier to improve the best time to a 1m43.362s.

Ocon’s second flying lap then put him ahead on a 1m43.022s, before the rain returned and the spray increased around the 3.6-mile lap.

But that did not yet stop the times from improving, with the Ferrari drivers now on the inters and flying as the final 20 minutes approached. Leclerc moved back ahead on a 1m42.634s that featured a massive slide nearly off the exit kerbs coming out of the second Degner corner, before Sainz beat that with a 1m42.563s.

Then came Alonso, who blitzed his way to the quickest times in the opening two…