Oscar Piastri topped a rain-disrupted second practice session for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, with only 13 drivers managing to set lap times throughout the session.
Rain began to fall in the hour before the start of the session and when it intensified just ahead of the green lights it was no surprise that most drivers opted to remain in the pits, waiting it out for an improvement in conditions.
Lewis Hamilton briefly ventured out on Medium tyres, and initially the Mercedes driver reported that the conditions were good. However, he was soon called back to the garage with race engineer Pete Bonnington telling him that there was rain in Sector 1. RB’s Daniel Ricciardo also ventured out on Medium tyres in the first quarter hour but he took retreated to the pits when the rain began to more steadily.
As the session edged into its middle third, Piastri went out on Intermediate tyres and branded the track “not that wet”. He returned to the pits as a handful of others ventured out on the green-banded inters, including Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas and the RBs of Ricciardo and Tsunoda.
Tsunoda set the P1 benchmark at 1:42.304 with Ricciardo slotting in four seconds behind.
Tsunoda then improved to 1:40.946s, with Ricciardo’s second effort putting him 0.9s off his team-mate’s best time.
Towards the end of the session, as conditions marginally improved, a number of drivers opted for slick tyres and Piastri, making a late appearance on slicks, managed to clock the fastest lap, posting a time of 1:34.725, followed by Hamilton who was half a second off the McLaren driver and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who took third with four-second deficit to Piastri.
The RBs finished fourth and fifth with Tsunoda ahead of Ricciardo, while Lando Norris took sixth ahead of the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was eighth ahead of Bottas and the top 10 order was rounded out by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. Albon, Magnussen and Zhou completed the timed order.
2024 FIA Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:34.725 7 220.693
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:35.226 0.501 6 219.532
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:38.760 4.035 4 211.676
4 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:40.946 6.221 8 207.092
5 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:41.913 7.188 9 205.127
6 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:44.977 10.252 3 199.140
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:52.579 17.854 3 185.693
8 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:55.179 20.454 5 181.501
9 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:56.059 21.334 7 180.125
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:59.113 24.388 3 175.507
11 Alexander Albon Williams 2’03.821 29.096 5 168.834
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 2’30.472 55.747 4 138.930
13 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 2’03.317 28.592 7 169.524
14 Max Verstappen Red Bull – 0
15 Logan Sargeant Williams – 0
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine – 0
17 Sergio Pérez Red Bull – 0
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin – 0
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin – 0
20 George Russell Mercedes – 0