FP2: Piastri tops rain-interrupted second practice

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri set the benchmark within the rain-interrupted second one-hour session with nearly all of the sphere having elected to remain within the pits within the robust circumstances. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó studies on Free Practice 2.

It was a quiet begin to the second practice session as all the area opted to remain of their garages whereas the rain fell at Suzuka. Although it was solely a short bathe, it was sufficient to drive drivers to spend a lot of the session of their garages. The problem was that there was not sufficient water on the monitor to make use of the intermediate tyres, however the floor was too damp for slick tyres.

While some drivers went out for exploratory laps, it was not till the dying minutes of the session that drivers dared to finish just a few laps on the red-walled slick tyres.

It was Oscar Piastri to finish the session on prime with a time of 1m34.725s with Lewis Hamilton ending the session second-quickest, adopted by Ferrari racer Charles Leclerc. Only Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz had timed lap in Free Practice 2.

Williams driver Logan Sargeant didn’t take part within the afternoon session because the Grove-based outfit was pressured to vary key elements in his automotive after his shunt within the first practice.

Expanding on the harm, Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson stated: “Whilst Logan’s crash caused a lot of damage, it was limited to the suspension, wings and floor with no damage done to the chassis or PU. The extent of the damage meant that he was unable to run in FP2, but he will be back in action in FP3.”