FORMULA 1 SUZUKA FRIDAY PRACTICE REVIEW

A Soaked Suzuka Welcomes Back F1 For Friday Practice 

The land of the rising sun failed to live up to its name when Japan’s dark and rainy weather loomed over the opening Formula 1 session of the Japanese Grand Prix, the first time F1 has been back at Suzuka in three years. 

The afternoon session brought along more steady rainfall, leaving the extended FP2 session to go ahead under damp conditions. 

The soaked opening session at the Suzuka highlighted the Ferrari duo as a threat for the weekend, with both drivers getting their cars into the top 3, trailing Fernando Alonso in P1 with the fastest time of 1:42.248. 

Home hero Yuki Tsunoda was the first to brave the rain at his first Japanese Grand Prix in F1, before reporting many “rivers” across the track and retreating to the pits. 

George Russell’s W13 required an earlier-than-expected engine change after his Mercedes suffered an oil leak. The engine was originally scheduled to be replaced overnight, however, the change took up the first 40 minutes of his FP1. 

Carlos Sainz reported “a bit of a noise”, suspecting an issue with the turbo in his F1-75, while his former teammate in the McLaren, Lando Norris, informed his engineers of a PU warning on his dash. Both issues seemed to settle for the remainder of the Friday. 

Alonso topped a wet first practice session at Suzuka over the two Ferrari’s

Midway into the session after limited running, all teams opted to send their cars out onto the drying track where the drivers set solid lap times, and reaccustomed themselves to the track for the remainder of the session. 

Both Ferraris had some dicey moments as the weather reached the crossover from intermediates to wets yet again, before all cars returned to the pits, bar the Alfas, to end the first session. 

After his practice start, Mick Schumacher spun and crashed with a significant amount of forward impact into Turn 8, leaving a hefty shift of work for his mechanics to completely change the Haas’ chassis. 

FP2 was originally devoted to the 2023 Pirelli Prototype Tyre Testing, but, as the wet weather prevailed, the test was cancelled. 

As already planned, instead of being the usual hour-long session, the second free practice’s duration remained extended by an additional 30 minutes. 

Given the extra running and poor weather conditions, teams weren’t in a rush to leave the pits. 

Nicholas Latifi was the first out on track, testing the conditions on full wet tyres and reporting parts of the track were ready for intermediate tyres, however, the choice would be risky given the rivers, specifically at Turn 8 and the continuous rainfall. 

On intermediate tyres, Tsunoda took a trip into the gravel, which was closely followed by Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez narrowly avoiding contact with the barriers after locking up at Turn 11, both feeling the impact of their cold, low-grip tyres.

In the final half an hour of a relatively quiet FP2, most cars returned to the pits, having ended their planned running for the day. 

Throughout the session, Mercedes put in strong times and ended FP2 with George Russell in P1 with the fastest time of 1:41.935 and Lewis Hamilton in P2. The Red Bull duo ended the session behind in third and fourth, followed by Kevin Magnussen in P5. 

Saturday’s Qualifying session is expected to be dry, taking place at 3:00 pm local time (5:00 pm AEST).