Japanese GP 2025
APRIL 4, 2025
Friday Report - Piastri quickest in disrupted session
© McLaren
Oscar Piastri topped the second practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix, leading a disrupted hour that saw four red flags and limited running for several drivers. The McLaren driver clocked a best time of 1m28.114s, narrowly edging out teammate Lando Norris by just 0.048s, as the team continued their strong early form at Suzuka.
The session was significantly shortened due to several incidents, beginning with a heavy crash for Alpine driver Jack Doohan at Turn 1. Doohan, who had taken over the car from Ryo Hirakawa after FP1, lost control early into the session and slammed into the barriers. Thankfully, the Australian walked away unhurt, but his car was heavily damaged and unable to continue.
Once the track was cleared, the session resumed with around 30 minutes remaining, but it wasn’t long before Fernando Alonso spun into the gravel, triggering another red flag. The disruptions didn’t end there — late in the session, two separate incidents of burning grass at the trackside forced marshals to red-flag the session twice more to extinguish the flames, further eating into valuable running time.
Among those who managed a clean lap, Isack Hadjar stood out. The Racing Bulls driver impressed by finishing closest to the McLaren duo, capitalizing on the limited window for fast laps. However, several drivers were unable to post competitive times on the soft compound tyre due to the repeated stoppages.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth for Ferrari, followed by Liam Lawson in fifth. Rounding out the top ten were George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, and Carlos Sainz.
Yuki Tsunoda, racing in front of his home crowd, impressed in the morning FP1 session by getting within a tenth of Verstappen’s benchmark time. However, the afternoon chaos prevented him from setting a representative time on the soft tyres in FP2.
The disrupted session leaves teams with minimal long-run data heading into Saturday, with many relying heavily on FP3 to finalize their setups before qualifying.
With weather looking unpredictable, the rest of the weekend could throw even more surprises at Suzuka.