Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris topped the timesheets for McLaren as four red flags – including two triggered by trackside grass fires – disrupted the second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday.
Piastri, fresh off his victory in China, set the fastest lap of 1:28.114, clinching the top spot just before the final red flag on a sunny but cool day at Suzuka.
Championship leader Norris, who was fastest in the first practice session, secured second place in the later session, finishing four-tenths of a second ahead of Racing Bulls’ French rookie Isack Hadjar.
The level of disruption in the second session meant several drivers were unable to complete extended runs, leaving plenty for them and their teams to figure out in the final practice before qualifying on Saturday.
The session was barely seven minutes old when Jack Doohan’s Alpine spun off the track at the first corner, skidded across the gravel, and slammed into a wall.
The Australian rookie, who had been replaced by reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa for the first practice, appeared shaken as he was helped to walk away from the wreckage of his car.
The cars were kept off the track for 22 minutes, and after just three minutes of running, the session was red-flagged again after Spaniard Fernando Alonso went off track and got his Aston Martin stuck in the gravel.
A seven-minute stoppage followed, and after five minutes of action, a patch of grass at the trackside caught fire, bringing out the red flags once again.
Piastri managed to get his flying lap in to edge out Norris at the top of the timesheets before another patch of grass – perhaps ignited by sparks from a passing car – went up in flames, bringing the session to a premature end.
It was a disappointing session for the crowd, who had earlier cheered Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda to the sixth-fastest time in the opening session for Red Bull after being promoted from the Racing Bulls team at the expense of Liam Lawson last week.
Crucially, Tsunoda was only a tenth of a second behind his teammate, four-time world champion Max Verstappen, in fifth place, a big improvement on the pace managed by Lawson in the first two races of the season.
Dutchman Verstappen complained of understeer in the second session, finishing more than half a second off the pace with the eighth-fastest time.
New Zealander Lawson, back with the Racing Bulls team, managed only the 13th-fastest time in the opening session but finished fifth in the second.
Mercedes will take some comfort from George Russell, who was the frontrunner for much of the first session and clocked the second-fastest lap ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, who finished third and fourth, respectively.
