It was McLaren driver Oscar Piastri who set the best time in the second free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix in 1.34.725 (Soft), the Australian ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes (Soft) by five tenths. and by four seconds the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc (Tendres).
Behind, Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Guanyu Zhou completed the top ten in a session disrupted by the arrival of a few drops of rain.
Private sargeant of EL2
Victim of a big crash during the first free practice session earlier in the day, American Logan Sargeant was unable to participate in this second practice session this Friday at Suzuka. The damage to his Williams was too extensive to be repaired in time, but the chassis was not damaged, which will allow him to participate in the remainder of the weekend in Japan starting this Saturday.
Arrival of the rain
If the first free practice session took place on a completely dry track earlier in the day, this was not the case for FP2 since the first drops of rain appeared a few minutes before the start of the session.
However, it took some time (30 minutes) before seeing a single-seater on the track because it was not raining enough to wet the track and therefore fit rain tires. The drivers therefore really started their session after 30 minutes of waiting in the garage, but the very tricky conditions on the track mean that the hierarchy is absolutely not representative at the end of a practice session which falls apart, and while some drivers didn’t even bother to ride.
For the rest of the weekend, heavy rain is expected at Suzuka, particularly this Sunday for the race which will start at 7:00 a.m. (Paris time).
Ricciardo begins his weekend
After leaving his car to the Japanese Iwasa during FP1 as part of the running reserved for young drivers, the Australian Daniel Ricciardo started his weekend during these FP2. This session having been largely disrupted by a few drops of rain, the Visa Cash App RB driver did not start his weekend in the best way with few laps completed this Friday.
The third and final free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix is scheduled for this Saturday, April 6 at 4:30 a.m. (Paris time) and will be followed live on our site at this address.
Japanese GP FP2 results
