Formula 1 | Japan, EL2: Russell leads Mercedes F1 one-two at Suzuka

The second free practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix saw conditions similar to FP1, with heavy rain. The 2023 Pirelli tire tests were thus cancelled, but the 90 minutes scheduled for the session were kept.

After leaving the track at the end of Free Practice 1, Mick Schumacher was unable to take part in this second session of the day. Indeed, Haas F1 changed the chassis of its VF-22 and had to redo the entire front part.

Nicholas Latifi set the first time of the session in 1’52″233, but he was quickly beaten by Carlos Sainz in 1’49″615. The Canadian was then the victim of a funny incident, since he turned too early in the chicane and had to turn around in an access road.

Alex Albon then Daniel Ricciardo placed himself behind the Spaniard, before Lando Norris was the only one to place himself temporarily less than a second behind. Asked by his engineer about the condition of the track, the McLaren F1 driver replied: « Wet! »

The drivers were all on rubber for the rain, and Lewis Hamilton took to the track after 25 minutes of the session, to set the provisional best time in 1’49″489. But with intermediate rubber, his teammate George Russell beaten in 1’47″9, before improving in 1’45″738.

The Mercedes F1 driver improved again to 1m45.197s, but his team-mate Hamilton was up again, this time on the intermediate tires. A time of 1m.44.298s put him top of the charts. time, as Max Verstappen prepared to hit the track.

Latifi took provisional third place ahead of Pierre Gasly, and Yuki Tsunoda then moved to third, with Norris moving up to fourth place, 10 thousandths behind the Japanese. The latter went through the gravel at Degner, while Charles Leclerc went through the gravel at the hairpin.

Verstappen and Hamilton traded the best time on several occasions and while the Dutchman seemed to take the lead in 1’43″137, Russell beat him in 1’42″968. Verstappen then regained the fastest lap in 1m42.786s, but the Mercedes F1 drivers repositioned themselves in the lead, Hamilton in 1m42.170s and Russell in 1m41.935s.

Meanwhile, Sainz moved back to fourth ahead of Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso and Guanyu Zhou, then Valtteri Bottas. Leclerc was in the ninth place at this point in the session. Kevin Magnussen then took fifth position.

The second part of the session saw the rain return and the times stopped moving. The teams continued to run to collect data, as the race could take place in complicated conditions.

McLaren ended their drivers’ session after an hour, not wanting to run another 30 minutes as the Pirelli tires were untested. We also learned that the test of the 2023 prototypes would be postponed to Mexico.

Magnussen did not drive too much at the end of the session, Haas explaining that a major change of settings was underway on the Dane’s single-seater. We saw Sergio Pérez make a small mistake in this second part of the session, without consequences.

Russell and Hamilton therefore sign the double of these EL2s for Mercedes F1, ahead of the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Pérez. Magnussen is fifth ahead of Sainz, Alonso, Bottas, Ocon and Zhou. Leclerc is 11th ahead of Williams, Pierre Gasly ending the day at the bottom of the standings.