#F1 #JapaneseGP FP2: @OscarPiastri heads @McLarenF1 1-2 in red flag-affected session.

Piastri Japanese GP FP2 – Oscar Piastri lead from team-mate Lando Norris in a McLaren one-two in a four-time red flag interrupted session as Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar completed the top three runners.

Piastri posted the session-topping benchmark on the C3 red-marked Soft tyres and was 0.049 seconds quicker than team-mate Norris whilst Hadjar was a further 0.404 seconds adrift in third.

The second practice session began with Williams’ Carlos Sainz the first to hit the track followed by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly with both drivers on the C1 white-marked harder compounds.

The field were mixed with the C1 and C2 hard and medium tyres.

Williams’ Sainz returned to the pits after reporting an issue with his Mercedes-powered FW47 racer.

Alpine’s Gasly was the first to register the opening benchmark of a 1:31.419, which was quickly beaten by Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda who jumped to the top on a 1:30.625.

But that was short-lived as Ferrari’s Hamilton posted a 1:29.950 to demote Tsunoda down to fourth after improvements also came from Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar.

Mercedes’ George Russell then slotted into the P1 slot on a 1:29.666 to edge Hamilton by 0.284 seconds.

Eight minutes in, the red flag was brought out after Alpine’s Jack Doohan suffered a heavy shunt into the barriers at the opening corner.

Replays showed the Australian bottoming out as he entered the corner and suffered a spin into turn one which sent the A525 racer into the wall at high-speed.

Doohan slowly managed to climb out of the cockpit unassisted, which was a good sign to see but was a heavy impact.

There was debris scattered through the gravel trap, but some of that was from the advertising boardings that sit in front of the tyre barriers. The barriers themselves have moved thanks to the impact.

Following a lengthy 22 minute delay and Doohan’s A525 racer and debris cleared, and the wall repaired, the session went green with Norris leading the pack out on his C2 medium compound.

Norris began his flyer, but was abandoned after Haas’s Esteban Ocon impeded the Briton through the Esses.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc moved up into fifth place behind Chinese GP winner Piastri.

The red flag came out for a second time after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso tapped the grass with his left wheels and the speed carried his AMR25 racer off the track at Degner 1, losing control and spun into the gravel trap. The Spaniard came to a standstill in the gravel.

After Alonso’s AMR25 was cleared with 19 minutes remaining the field wasted no time heading straight about out as the sole Alpine of Gasly lead the pack on track with the majority of the drivers on the C3 red side-walled softer tyre to do their qualifying simulation runs.

Leclerc was the first to set the initial qualifying simulation benchmark on the softs, setting a 1:28.617 to go quickest before Russell slotted back into P1 with his 1:28.567 effort.

Red Bull’s Liam Lawson was next to shoot into third place before Hamilton and Hadjar slotted themselves into first and second respectively.

McLaren’s Norris and Piastri then on their push laps jumped into P1 and P3 of the classification respectively. Norris’s benchmark at the top was a 1:28.163 and was 0.355 seconds clear of Hadjar whilst Piastri was a further 0.380 adrift of his leading McLaren team-mate.

The red flags interrupted for a third time due to a fire after sparks were blown from the cars towards the grass.

When the session resumed with seven minutes remaining, Leclerc lead the field out with his set of C3 softs.

Leclerc wounded up seventh on his flyer, then Piastri with two purple final sectors moved to P1 with a 1:28.114 and was 0.049 seconds quicker than Norris who improved to second but not enough to top his McLaren team-mate.

The session ended under a fourth red flag after fire erupted on the grass once more.

Hadjar was third and in-front of Ferrari’s Hamilton who took fourth and the other RB of Lawson who placed fifth in the classification.

Mercedes’ Russell followed in sixth and ahead of Ferrari’s Leclerc who was seventh and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who came eighth in the classification.

Alpine’s Gasly and Williams’ Sainz rounded out the top ten runners.

Thanks to those crashes and red flags, no one got any proper longer race runs in. That will cause a lot of headaches for the strategists, who don’t have enough data on how the tyres handle under the heavier fuel loads.

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Japanese Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 2 Results at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1256/japan/practice/2

#F1 #JapaneseGP FP1: @LandoNorris edges @GeorgeRussell63 by 0.163s.

#F1 #Lenovo #JapaneseGP 2025 Preview. #Formula1 #JapaneseGrandPrix