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Charles Bradley

F1 results: George Russell fastest in Japanese GP practice on Friday

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was fastest in FP1 before Russell beat his time in FP2, both sessions running in wet weather conditions.

Japanese Grand Prix FP1 results: Alonso fastest from Sainz

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 7 1'42.248     204.455
2 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 15 1'42.563 0.315 0.315 203.827
3 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 16 1'42.634 0.386 0.071 203.686
4 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 5 1'43.022 0.774 0.388 202.919
5 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 15 1'43.258 1.010 0.236 202.455
6 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 4 1'43.362 1.114 0.104 202.252
7 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 13 1'43.761 1.513 0.399 201.474
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 7 1'43.889 1.641 0.128 201.226
9 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 13 1'43.969 1.721 0.080 201.071
10 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 4 1'44.234 1.986 0.265 200.560
11 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 15 1'44.429 2.181 0.195 200.185
12 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 8 1'44.486 2.238 0.057 200.076
13 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 6 1'44.558 2.310 0.072 199.938
14 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 10 1'44.570 2.322 0.012 199.915
15 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 9 1'44.791 2.543 0.221 199.494
16 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 12 1'44.878 2.630 0.087 199.328
17 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 11 1'45.424 3.176 0.546 198.296
18 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 4 1'46.103 3.855 0.679 197.027
19 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 16 1'46.192 3.944 0.089 196.862
20 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 8 1'48.090 5.842 1.898 193.405

What happened in Japanese GP Free Practice 1?

Heavy rain made the circuit treacherous, with Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) the brave souls who tried the track on wet tyres in the early stages.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz set the first flying lap of the session at 1m49.952s after 20 minutes, with teammate Charles Leclerc even suggesting intermediate tyres for his next run as the rain eased off. Leclerc lowered the P1 time to 1m48.104s, before Sainz hit back with 1m47.758s.

Verstappen reset the bar with 25 minutes to go on intermediate tyres, unleashing 1m44.059s on his first flying lap – 3.699s faster than the fastest wet-tyred time. He followed that up with 1m43.362s before Esteban Ocon’s Alpine leapt to the top of the timesheet on 1m43.022s.

Leclerc (1m42.634s) and Sainz (1m42.563s) then took turns at the top before Alonso lapped in 1m42.248s as the rain intensified again – effectively ending the session 12 minutes early.

Sainz and Leclerc were next up, ahead of Ocon, Magnussen and Verstappen.

Leclerc suffered a gravelly off at Degner 1, while Sainz ran wide at Spoon. Nicholas Latifi suffered an off at the hairpin in his Williams but escaped the gravel trap.

After the practice starts, Mick Schumacher crashed his Haas on the in-lap – cracking the chassis and ending his day.

Japanese Grand Prix FP2 results: Russell fastest from Hamilton

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes 23 1'41.935     205.083
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 22 1'42.170 0.235 0.235 204.611
3 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 24 1'42.786 0.851 0.616 203.385
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 26 1'42.834 0.899 0.048 203.290
5 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas 17 1'43.187 1.252 0.353 202.595
6 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari 23 1'43.204 1.269 0.017 202.561
7 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 14 1'43.533 1.598 0.329 201.918
8 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 20 1'43.733 1.798 0.200 201.528
9 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 13 1'43.884 1.949 0.151 201.235
10 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 17 1'44.525 2.590 0.641 200.001
11 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 10 1'44.709 2.774 0.184 199.650
12 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 16 1'44.962 3.027 0.253 199.169
13 Thailand Alex Albon Williams 15 1'45.039 3.104 0.077 199.023
14 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 27 1'45.257 3.322 0.218 198.611
15 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 24 1'45.261 3.326 0.004 198.603
16 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 11 1'45.885 3.950 0.624 197.433
17 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 9 1'46.030 4.095 0.145 197.163
18 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 21 1'46.776 4.841 0.746 195.785
19 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 13 1'47.109 5.174 0.333 195.176
20 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 0        

What happened in Japanese GP Free Practice 2?

The original plan for this extended 90-minute session was to test 2023-specification tyres, but more heavy rain cancelled that idea – if not the extra 30 minutes.

Sainz set the early pace at 1m49.615s on wet tyres before running wide at Degner 1, which he just got away with. MercedesLewis Hamilton, who was only 13th in FP1, then went fastest on 1m49.489s and reckoned the track was almost ready for intermediates.

This was quickly proved by teammate George Russell, who lapped in 1m46.891s on inters. Hamilton then switched to them too and produced 1m44.298s to take back P1.

Conditions remained tricky, however, proved by Leclerc going off at the hairpin – although he blamed a brake problem for that. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez had no such excuse later on for repeating the excursion.

Verstappen briefly grabbed P1 with 1m43.571s, before Hamilton snatched it back with 1m43.536s and then Russell wrested it back with 1m42.968s. Verstappen went faster still on 1m42.786s, before the Mercedes 1-2 was restored by Russell’s fastest time of the day of 1m41.935s with Hamilton 0.235s behind.

Verstappen and Perez were third and fourth, ahead of Magnussen, Sainz and Alonso.

Latifi suffered another excursion, this time before the Casio Triangle chicane. Tsunoda visited the Degner 1 gravel and escaped.

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