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Suzuka, Japan - April 4, 2025 - Welcome back to Suzuka, where the second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix turned into a stop-start affair, heavily punctuated by red flags. While FP1 saw McLaren's Lando Norris set the pace, FP2 was defined by incidents and limited running, leaving teams and strategists with plenty of headaches ahead of the weekend.
The drama began just minutes into the session. Alpine's Jack Doohan, taking over the car after sitting out FP1 for reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa, suffered a significant crash at Turn 1. Replays showed the Australian losing control at the high-speed entry, potentially after dipping a wheel on the grass or keeping his DRS open too long, resulting in a heavy side-on impact with the barriers.
Thankfully, Doohan confirmed he was okay over the radio and climbed out of the cockpit unaided, though he looked shaken and was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks. The crash caused substantial damage to the left side of his Alpine and necessitated barrier repairs, leading to a lengthy red flag period of over 20 minutes. This incident leaves the Alpine mechanics with a significant rebuild job overnight.
Just as the session resumed, the red flags were waving again. This time, it was Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso finding trouble. The vastly experienced Spaniard dipped a wheel onto the grass entering the second Degner corner, sending his car spinning into the gravel trap where it became beached. Alonso was unharmed, but his session was over, and the team faces checks for potential floor damage.
The interruptions didn't end there. Later in the session, red flags flew twice more due to small grass fires near the track, possibly ignited by sparks from the cars hitting the ground, fanned by the wind – a bizarre echo of similar scenes in China last year. The final fire brought the session to a premature end, preventing any practice starts.
Amidst the chaos, McLaren demonstrated impressive pace. Lando Norris initially went quickest after the first restart, setting a strong benchmark. However, teammate Oscar Piastri, who often builds speed through a session, dialled himself in during the final runs on the soft tyres. Piastri ultimately topped the timesheets with a 1m 28.114s, fractionally faster than last year's pole time and just 0.049s ahead of Norris.
The McLaren pair finished well clear of the rest of the field, underlining their potential at a track where they performed strongly last season.
Behind the McLarens, Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar put in a very impressive performance to finish P3, ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) and Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), with George Russell (Mercedes) completing the top six. The times were incredibly tight amongst several drivers during the brief soft tyre runs before the final red flags.
However, the biggest story beyond the incidents is the lack of meaningful running. The multiple red flags severely hampered teams' planned programmes, particularly the crucial long runs on heavier fuel loads. This leaves strategists with a significant data deficit regarding tyre degradation and race pace, especially concerning Pirelli's hardest C1, C2, and C3 compounds brought here for the first time this season.
With limited understanding of tyre behaviour over a race distance, Sunday's strategy calls could be fascinating, with the undercut expected to be particularly powerful at Suzuka.
While McLaren might feel relatively content with their single-lap pace, every team (bar perhaps Alpine, who have a car to rebuild) faces an evening pouring over limited data. Ferrari, needing a strong result, showed glimpses of pace, while Yuki Tsunoda continued his solid start at Red Bull, though neither Red Bull driver seemed entirely comfortable in FP1.
Qualifying tomorrow promises excitement, but the race itself has been thrown into intriguing uncertainty by today's disrupted running.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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