F1: Suzuka stays wet, Russell leads Mercedes 1-2 in FP2

George Russell led a Mercedes one-two as rain again impacted the extended second practice session for the Japanese GP at Suzuka, with the Briton topping the timesheets ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton and championship leader Max Verstappen.

The teams were once again greeted with wet conditions at Suzuka as rain continued to fall, resulting in the drivers staying in the pit lane at the beginning of the session.

The drivers had an extra 30 minutes to play in the rain at the Suzuka circuit on Friday afternoon, to test 2023 Pirelli dry tires, which never happened because the track was wet throughout.

Verstappen was third quickest – 0.851s behind Russell – with teammate Sergio Perez just behind. Verstappen was not happy with his intermediate tires, complaining after just nine laps: “Front tires are getting way too hot through the lap.”

Kevin Magnussen – whose teammate Mick Schumacher took no part in the session after crashing into the barrier at the end of FP1 – continued his good Friday form, with the fifth quickest time overall.

Others were finding the conditions a lot more tricky, Yuki Tsunoda running through the gravel at the Degner curves and Charles Leclerc slid wide at the hairpin. The latter reported his front left felt “really bad”.

Slipping off at Suzuka 😬

Leclerc and Tsunoda hit the gravel but escape and make their way back to the track#JapaneseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/FnUD8TfY6e

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 7, 2022

FP2 was extended by half an hour to theoretically accommodate a Pirelli test run for next year’s tires.

But with the mule tire a slick compound, the extra runtime was effectively meaningless in the lasting wet, although FP2 at Austin will similarly be extended to feature another shakedown.

Both Mercedes-AMG F1 drivers used two new tire sets of Pirelli Intermediates in the session to conduct set-up experiments, while other drivers only ran used sets.

The Silver Arrows are still on the hunt for that first win of the campaign and may well hope the wet conditions we had on Friday will stick around for the rest of the weekend, based off of this showing at least.

The forecast, though, looks less kind to Mercedes for the weekend – though there may be some showers around for the race

Mick Schumacher did not take part in the session, Haas having to change his chassis after it suffered a crack in his FP1 crash.

Qualifying day on Saturday is forecast to be dry, promising a busy FP3 session, while some forecasts suggest rain could return during the race on Sunday.

Quick Quotes

1st George Russell
It is always nice to end the day top of the time sheets, and it was a decent improvement from FP1 when we were pretty much at the bottom. The wet conditions today were probably not that representative for the rest of the weekend, but it was a good learning opportunity for the future; it’s important to understand things like the tire crossover from wet to intermediate, and even if that doesn’t pay dividends this weekend, it will in the future. It’s amazing to be back here in Suzuka – the circuit is so iconic, one of the best in the world, and the first sector is just a joy to drive because it is so fast and flowing. I’ve no idea what to expect tomorrow in the dry – we will be battling for the top six positions, and hopefully we have a shot at something better than that. Let’s wait and see.

2nd Lewis Hamilton
It’s been a very chilled day! It’s been gray and wet, with a little bit of running, but we expect different conditions for the rest of the weekend. There’s always something useful to learn on set-up, tire wear and temperatures, as well as moving around the car balance between the sessions – plus we get data on our competitors, too. And it was positive in second practice that we could switch the tires on today. This track is just beautiful to drive and it’s great to see the fans here again – and it will be even more fun in the dry. When you do your first lap of the weekend, it’s always special to think of all the legends that have been here; then you come up to the last chicane or turn one, thinking of Senna and Prost, and you realize what a privilege it is to drive at a place that has had so much history. Looking to tomorrow, I don’t really know what to expect. I guess Ferrari and Red Bull will be rapid, and I hope that we are fast too – like I do each week!

Mercedes Engineer Andrew Shovlin
It’s great to finally be back at Suzuka and good to see so many fans enjoying the session undeterred by the rain. Our morning wasn’t great as we missed the best window for running but it did highlight that we were struggling for rear grip and tire temperature. We’d made some setup changes over the break and the car was in a better place for the afternoon. The time sheets are not a fair reflection of pace as our times were set on new tires but, like for like, we seemed to be in a reasonable position compared to Red Bull and Ferrari. We are expecting a dry qualifying session and most likely a dry race. The regulations do allow us to carry a third set of tires into the final session tomorrow on the basis that both sessions were wet today, although that does mean we are going to have a very busy hour trying to fit in all the necessary low- and high-fuel work.

3rd Max Verstappen

“It was obviously raining a lot today, so the two sessions weren’t very representative of what it will be like during qualifying or the race. It’s good to be back on track and always nice to be here in Suzuka. We were expecting more rain so it was good that we could go out on track for as long as we did. It’s a bit tricky to know where we are with pace when in the wet, but we did some basic set ups today and not much more than that. We’re almost starting from zero tomorrow in the dry, but it’s the same for everyone, I don’t think it will make a massive difference throughout the grid. Let’s see tomorrow what we can do!”

4th Sergio Perez

“It was wet out there and overall I think it was a shame for the fans today because of the weather but it looks better for tomorrow. Hopefully we get plenty of action on Saturday and then race day looks mixed so that can also be a great one for the crowd. This track is always a challenge and when it’s wet even more, it is the best track in the world, I think. We have managed to get a good read in these conditions, we are fairly comfortable and have a good idea of what we need to do, so it should be a good weekend.”

Practice 2 Results