Japanese Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Oscar Piastri leads the Mercedes

At the end of the weekend's second free practice session, Oscar Piastri set the fastest time with the Mercedes cars hot on his heels. Ferrari confirmed its place among the front-runners.

As the lights turned green and French fans struggled to open their eyes to the sound of their alarm clocks, Lando Norris's car was stuck in the garage, completely dismantled. There are fears of a hydraulic leak at McLaren, preventing the reigning world champion from returning to the track during the first half-hour of this session. On the other hand, Fernando Alonso is back. Absent from the first session, he had ceded his spot to reserve driver Jak Crawford. 

While Lando Norris is sidelined this Friday morning, his teammate, Oscar Piastri, is in top form and quickly sets the fastest times in sectors 1 and 2. He later sets the day's fastest lap at 1:30.133. 

After his collision with Perez during FP1, Alex Albon's troubles aren't over yet. The Williams driver found himself stuck between turns 1 and 2 due to a throttle failure. This triggered a brief yellow flag before he managed to restart without incident. The other unlucky driver was Arvid Linblad; after sensing a problem with his gearbox, he was called into the garage and watched the rest of the session from the pit wall.

Upcoming Updates

There's plenty of work to be done today, both in the pits and on the track. And for good reason: several teams are introducing significant technical updates. Red Bull has reworked the sidepod area, along with a new engine cover and an optimized floor. Ferrari has focused on redesigned brake ducts as well as refined floor reinforcements. Haas, for its part, has opted for a simplified version of its front wing to improve straight-line efficiency. Alpine has added new front deflectors and adjusted the behavior of its rear wing to improve top speed. Williams has reinforced the structure of its front suspension, while Cadillac has revised its diffuser. Finally, Aston Martin has made modifications to its front wing as well as to the fins located at the front of the floor.

Of note was a minor incident between Franco Colapinto and Max Verstappen. The young Argentine was warming up his tires a bit too carelessly without noticing Verstappen approaching from behind, who was on a flying lap. He immediately stopped zigzagging to get out of the way and let the Red Bull driver pass. 

At the top of the standings, the Ferraris, in 5th and 6th, continued the strong work from the first practice session and confirmed an encouraging level of form. While the car is a bit erratic over a single lap, it proves much more reliable over long stints.

As for the French drivers, this session mirrored the first: very uneventful. Tenth in FP1, Ocon clocked the 11th-fastest time this time around. Pierre Gasly and Isack Hadjar finished 14th and 15th, respectively.