Lewis Hamilton proved the man to beat at Suzuka as he topped the times at the end of Friday practice for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver pipped his title rival team-mate Nico Rosberg by just 0.240s with his personal best time coming in the second 90 minute free practice session, which was littered with incidents.
Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo brought out the red flags for the first time when he suffered a high speed shunt in the early stages of FP2.
The Australian appeared to lock his brakes on entry to the final corner which sent him into the barriers causing sizeable damage to the front left of his RB10.
The reason for the accident remains unclear.
Although he escaped unscathed, he took no further part, ending the session in 10th spot overall.
Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne caused a second red flag when he came to a halt on track with two minutes of the session remaining.
Valtteri Bottas enjoyed another strong showing for Williams as he proved to be the best of the rest in third, but the Finn was a full 1.2s adrift of the Mercedes duo.
Elsewhere, McLaren’s Jenson Button was fourth just a fraction ahead of Sebastian Vettel, with the Ferrari pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso sixth and seventh respectively.
Spots of rain began to fall at the circuit in the closing minutes preventing any last gasp improvements.
Local hero Kamui Kobayashi was unable to impress in front of his home crowd as a heavy crash just eight minutes into FP2 ended the Caterham driver’s day prematurely.
Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado will incur a 10 place grid drop for Sunday’s race after an engine change saw him exceed his allotted allocation of power plants for the season.
See below for full FP2 results
|
1 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes |
1:35.078s |
28 |
|
|
2 |
Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes |
1:35.318 |
.240s |
27 |
|
3 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Williams/Mercedes |
1:36.279 |
1.201 |
24 |
|
4 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren/Mercedes |
1:36.409 |
1.331 |
28 |
|
5 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull/Renault |
1:36.436 |
1.358 |
24 |
|
6 |
Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari |
1:36.529 |
1.451 |
19 |
|
7 |
Fernando Alonso |
Ferrari |
1:36.637 |
1.559 |
26 |
|
8 |
Kevin Magnussen |
McLaren/Mercedes |
1:36.714 |
1.636 |
31 |
|
9 |
Daniil Kvyat |
Toro Rosso/Renault |
1:36.943 |
1.865 |
27 |
|
10 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull/Renault |
1:37.186 |
2.108 |
3 |
|
11 |
Jean-Eric Vergne |
Toro Rosso/Renault |
1:37.219 |
2.141 |
19 |
|
12 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India/Mercedes |
1:37.504 |
2.426 |
16 |
|
13 |
Romain Grosjean |
Lotus/Renault |
1:37.563 |
2.485 |
31 |
|
14 |
Felipe Massa |
Williams/Mercedes |
1:37.700 |
2.622 |
18 |
|
15 |
Sergio Perez |
Force India/Mercedes |
1:37.786 |
2.708 |
8 |
|
16 |
Pastor Maldonado |
Lotus/Renault |
1:37.798 |
2.720 |
27 |
|
17 |
Adrian Sutil |
Sauber/Ferrari |
1:38.010 |
2.932 |
25 |
|
18 |
Esteban Gutierrez |
Sauber/Ferrari |
1:38.365 |
3.287 |
9 |
|
19 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Caterham/Renault |
1:39.069 |
3.991 |
22 |
|
20 |
Jules Bianchi |
Marussia/Ferrari |
1:39.306 |
4.228 |
20 |
|
21 |
Max Chilton |
Marussia/Ferrari |
1:39.333 |
4.255 |
24 |
|
22 |
Kamui Kobayashi |
Caterham/Renault |
1:42.760 |
7.682 |
3 |
See below for full results of FP1
|
1 |
Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes |
1:35.461s |
27 |
|
|
2 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes |
1:35.612 |
0.151s |
26 |
|
3 |
Fernando Alonso |
Ferrari |
1:36.037 |
0.576 |
19 |
|
4 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Williams/Mercedes |
1:36.576 |
1.115 |
25 |
|
5 |
Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari |
1:37.187 |
1.726 |
19 |
|
6 |
Kevin Magnussen |
McLaren/Mercedes |
1:37.327 |
1.866 |
24 |
|
7 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull/Renault |
1:37.466 |
2.005 |
27 |
|
8 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren/Mercedes |
1:37.649 |
2.188 |
24 |
|
9 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull/Renault |
1:37.686 |
2.225 |
26 |
|
10 |
Daniil Kvyat |
Toro Rosso/Renault |
1:37.714 |
2.253 |
26 |
|
11 |
Felipe Massa |
Williams/Mercedes |
1:38.012 |
2.551 |
22 |
|
12 |
Max Verstappen |
Toro Rosso/Renault |
1:38.157 |
2.696 |
22 |
|
13 |
Sergio Perez |
Force India/Mercedes |
1:38.324 |
2.863 |
10 |
|
14 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India/Mercedes |
1:38.582 |
3.121 |
9 |
|
15 |
Romain Grosjean |
Lotus/Renault |
1:38.851 |
3.390 |
21 |
|
16 |
Adrian Sutil |
Sauber/Ferrari |
1:39.046 |
3.585 |
19 |
|
17 |
Pastor Maldonado |
Lotus/Renault |
1:39.097 |
3.636 |
26 |
|
18 |
Esteban Gutierrez |
Sauber/Ferrari |
1:39.318 |
3.857 |
18 |
|
19 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Caterham/Renault |
1:40.031 |
4.570 |
18 |
|
20 |
Roberto Merhi |
Caterham/Renault |
1:41.472 |
6.011 |
24 |
|
21 |
Jules Bianchi |
Marussia/Ferrari |
1:41.580 |
6.119 |
10 |
|
22 |
Max Chilton |
Marussia/Ferrari |
1:41.757 |
6.296 |
15 |
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