Piastri tops the charts in rain-affected FP2 at Japanese Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri emerged fastest in a rain-influenced Free Practice 2 session for the Japanese Grand Prix, with a flurry of activity in the closing minutes as conditions improved slightly.
The session started quietly as teams opted to stay in their garages to preserve intermediate tyres in anticipation of more rain throughout the weekend. The entire field remained stationary for the first 15 minutes until Lewis Hamilton ventured out on medium compounds. Although initially optimistic, the Mercedes driver swiftly returned to the pits with the threat of looming showers.
Daniel Ricciardo, having missed FP1 to give rookie Ayumu Iwasa some track time, made a brief appearance but reported worsening conditions before returning to the pits. Fans waited patiently as the session hit a lull due to the increasing rainfall.
Halfway through the session, Oscar Piastri made a crucial move by switching to intermediate tyres, soon followed by a few others as the track began to dry albeit remaining too damp for slick tyres. Alex Albon represented Williams in this session as his teammate Logan Sargeant’s car was being repaired after a severe FP1 crash.
While many drivers did only exploratory laps, Yuki Tsunoda, in front of his home crowd, clocked the first timed lap at 1m 40.946s, nearly a second ahead of Ricciardo. The conditions improved towards the session's final 10 minutes, prompting Valtteri Bottas, the Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, and others to hit the track, albeit still finding it too wet for slicks.
Read next ❯ Ferrari to reveal Hamilton's debut F1 car on February 19 at MaranelloPiastri set the fastest lap of 1m 34.725s on the soft compound in the final minutes, as a late surge saw multiple drivers take to the track, including Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, and Esteban Ocon. Hamilton finished second, Leclerc third, relegating Tsunoda and Ricciardo to fourth and fifth respectively. A total of 13 timed laps were recorded, though many were far from representative.
Absent from the session were World Champion Max Verstappen, his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, George Russell of Mercedes, and the mentioned Sargeant.
Following this quiet end to Friday’s proceedings at Suzuka, teams will now analyze the gathered data in preparation for Free Practice 3 on Saturday.
