Two sodden practice sessions ahead of the returning Japanese Grand Prix heavily disguised the true competitive order at Suzuka. However, while it was Mercedes that set the pace as George Russell led Lewis Hamilton, enough evidence suggests Max Verstappen is keeping plenty in reserve for the dry as the Red Bull ace seeks to wrap up his second Formula 1 world title this weekend.
The story of the day
That FP1 and FP2 took place at all was somewhat unexpected given a washout was forecast and the gloomy skies were still throwing it down in the 30 minutes leading up to the first session. But ahead they went, even if there was far less track activity than usual for a Friday.
Departing Alpine driver Fernando Alonso was the somewhat unexpected pacesetter from the first hour. After the track dried to a degree to pave the way for intermediate-tyre runs, he cleared the 3.6 miles in 1m42.248s to sit top of the class. And conditions worsening in the final quarter of an hour left him there, as the two-time champion ended up 0.315s clear of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. Meanwhile, Verstappen mustered sixth as Hamilton ran to an anonymous 13th and Russell was way down in 18th with only four laps chalked.
Naturally, the treacherous track caught one or two out. The biggest casualty was Mick Schumacher, who aquaplaned in the Haas on a much slower in-lap to ping into the wall and crumple both front corners. The German, who is fighting for his F1 future after splitting the car in two at Jeddah and Monaco, wouldn’t be seen again as a chassis change was required.
The Silver Arrows came to the fore in FP2, which was extended to 90 minutes to fit a Pirelli 2023-spec tyre test. However, with the mule rubber a slick compound, that was canned and left the few who completed representative long-run stints to ply their trade on inters.
Russell, the first of the field to switch from full wets to the green-walled rubber in second practice, kept whittling away at his times to settle on a 1m41.935s – leading Hamilton by 0.235s. Verstappen ran to third, albeit 0.851s adrift as Singapore GP winner Sergio Perez was fourth.
Russell led a Mercedes 1-2 in second practice at the Japanese GP
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
After a late glory run on fresh inters to assess set-up tweaks, Kevin Magnussen clocked fifth ahead of fastest Ferrari Carlos Sainz. Leclerc, though, buzzed the timing line down in 11th after a trip through the gravel at the hairpin on…
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