Oscar Piastri has finished at the head of the second round of free practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, the fourth event on the calendar, which started this Friday at the Suzuka circuit. The persistent rain It ruined a good part of the session and some drivers did not even go out on track when the conditions improved, among them Fernando Alonso.
The times of this second round are not relevant, since the weather forecast indicates that both Saturday’s qualifying (08:00 a.m.) and Sunday’s race (07:00 a.m.) will be held in dry conditions.. And in these circumstances, the first reference to Free Practice 1 has left the Red Bulls in command and Carlos Sainz third with the Ferrari.
With 17 minutes remaining, only seven drivers had decided to test themselves in the afternoon session, with the Visa Cash RB men, Tsunoda and Ricciardo leading the provisional time table with intermediate tires and the best time for the local driver (1.40.946).
In the final stages of the session several drivers have chosen to join the action with a view to the test starts, although Oscar Piastri has taken advantage of the situation to be the fastest of the afternoon with the McLaren (1.34.725), followed by Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). Carlos Sainz finished seventh and Fernando Alonso has ruled out participating in these training sessions, as has the World Championship leader, Max Verstappen.
Once again Williams has started a grand prix with problems. After a serious accident in Australia for Alex Albon made them ‘sacrifice’ Logan Sargeant, who could not race as he did not have a replacement chassis, today the American crashed with that same chassis during Free Practice 1 and the team has not been able to repair it in time so that he could take part in the second session. The Grove team has announced that Sargeant will have to wait until Saturday to return to the scene. Nothing has been lost either.
GP Japan. Free 2
1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1’34″725
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) a 0″501
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 4″035
4. Yuki Tsunoda (Visa RB) a 6″221
5. Daniel Ricciardo (Visa RB) at 7″188
6. Lando Norris (McLaren) a 10″252
7. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) at 17″854
8. Guanyu Zhou (Stake) ST
9. Valtteri Bottas (Stake) ST
10. Alexander Albon (Williams) ST
11. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) ST
12. Nico Hülkengerg (Haas) ST
13. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) ST
….
Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Logan Sargeant (Williams)
Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
George Russell (Mercedes)
2024-04-05 07:34:05
#Rain #ruins #free #practice #Japan #Piastri #front #Provincia
