Free Practice 2 – Japanese GP: Rainy End to the Day in Suzuka

Still disrupted by rain, the first day of the Japanese Grand Prix doesn’t provide much insight into the competitive strengths, especially for Mercedes, which had significant difficulties in Singapore.

Unlike in FP1, all drivers take to the track in FP2, except for Valtteri Bottas. Romain Grosjean gets back in his Lotus after yielding it, for no reason, this morning to Jolyon Palmer. On the McLaren side, Fernando Alonso will have to wait more than an hour at his pit as his power unit is changed. He will go out on track at the end of the session for a control run.

Track activity isn’t very high in the first half hour, and the few drivers who take to the track almost all make mistakes: Sebastian Vettel goes too wide in the first turn while his Ferrari teammate, Kimi Räikkönen, misses the last chicane. Pastor Maldonado, driving his Lotus, repeats his China Grand Prix mishap by forgetting to take a turn, too busy adjusting the buttons on his steering wheel. He will resume without issue after a brief off-track excursion.

At mid-session, the track seems to be drying up and some teams mention the possibility of switching to slick tires. Effort wasted as the rain returns quickly. The Mercedes drivers then attempt a run on full wet tires, but it proves to be unnecessary for the rest of the weekend as the sun is expected to return as soon as tomorrow.

On the stopwatch, it’s the Russian Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull who records the best time at 1:48.277, ahead of the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, as well as his teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

As for Valtteri Bottas, he chose not to complete any laps in order to conserve sets of new tires for the rest of the weekend.