Friday Report - Piastri quickest as wet session limits running

Oscar Piastri
© McLaren

By Peter Habicht

Oscar Piastri set a fastest lap of 1m34.725s in a wet second free practice for McLaren as intermittent showers hampered teams’ ability to gain useful data on the Suzuka circuit. With only a handful of drivers out in the first half of the session, the circuit proved to be too wet for soft slick tyres and too dry for intermediates as the mix of conditions affected grip and wear negatively.

Nearly 45 minutes into the session, only three drivers had completed a timed lap, but later, drying conditions brought all but six drivers out of their garages, with Williams’ Logan Sargeant unable to join as repair work continued on his car following earlier contact with the barriers in FP1.

The final ten minutes saw continued drying conditions with a dry line forming around parts of the circuit, and Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas had the circuit to himself until Williams’ Alex Albon would join him on intermediate tyres, followed by both Haas cars.

Albon would be heard over team radio saying his car was ready for slicks with under five minutes left in the session when Piastri set fastest lap and most of the rest field joined to take advantage of the driest part of the session.

Lewis Hamilton would have a late attempt at a quick lap, winding up second on the timing sheets for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the RB’s of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.

The other eight drivers on the track never completed a full timed lap.

Free practice three begins at 11:30am.