Japanese Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: a session marked by red flags
The drivers didn't drive much in this second session marked by Doohan's very violent accident and 3 other flags without consequences.
20 minutes, that’s the amount of track time the drivers had in this 2nd free practice session.
Doohan took the wheel for the first time this weekend here in Suzuka. Unfortunately, 6 minutes after starting, the Australian driver crashed with incredible force into the tire walls of turn 1. His car is destroyed, he is completely dazed, and he will exit his single-seater with great difficulty, assisted by two doctors.
The reason for this crash: a careless mistake by Jack who forgot to close his DRS, realized it at the last moment, but it was too late: the car had already spun out.
DRAPEAU ROUGE 🚩
ÉNORME CRASH DE JACK DOOHAN 🤯Le pilote Alpine indique aller bien à la radio après avoir perdu sa monoplace à pleine vitesse dans le premier virage.#JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/WNgMAB8PCZ
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) April 4, 2025
The session resumed 28 minutes later, and Alonso, after his warm-up lap, got stuck in the gravel trap at turn 8, causing the second red flag. The Spanish driver hit the grass and, while trying to enter the turn, lost control of the Aston Martin.
As if the session had not been shortened enough, the grass caught fire twice: the cause was the sparks produced by the single-seaters in the high-speed sector. The second time, the fire concluded the session.
The McLarens woke up, taking the first two positions, with Piastri in 1:28.11. Hadjar, our French rookie, follows very closely in 3rd position with his time at 1:28.5 and has a brilliant session.
Russell is very aggressive on his out laps, but his actions were countered by Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. This aggressiveness is part of Mercedes’ plan. The Briton’s teammate is far behind, getting to know the circuit.
Max Verstappen was invisible during this session, not having recorded a time for most of it due to the red flags. The Dutchman also told his engineer that his car was understeering everywhere, putting him in difficulty. He recorded the 8th fastest time in the final part of this short session.
This second attempt started badly for Carlos Sainz, as he returned to the pits after his first lap. He complained of quite strong bouncing in the last part of sector 2 and requested to check the rear of the car.
For the Ferraris, this weekend seems to have gotten off to a good start, with the drivers putting in good lap times and being at the front for a while. They finished 4th and 7th. Gasly also bounced back, finishing 9th.
In short, not much for the teams to analyze, with a ranking that proves to be very insignificant.
McLaren sets the pace with a 1-2 in FP2, with Isack Hadjar in P3 👀
Here’s the full classification from an eventful second practice… ⏱️#F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/k2TpCU8ks0
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 4, 2025
