Only five drivers set times in wet second session

2017 Japanese Grand Prix second practice

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Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the second practice session at Suzuka but he was one of only five drivers to set times during a very wet session.

Japanese GP practice in pictures
The world championship leader set a best time of 1’48.719 using full wet weather tyres on a very wet circuit. The pit lane did not open until halfway through the allotted 90 minutes of running due to the amount of standing water on the circuit. The rain later eased, allowing some drivers to set times, but returned before the chequered flag fell.

Williams and Force India were the only other team to send either of their cars out. Lance Stroll set a time despite running off the track at turn one after hitting a deep patch of water.

Nine other drivers performed installation laps but Red Bull and Haas did not send either of their drivers out and Pierre Gasly and Valtteri Bottas also spent the session in the pits.

Pos. No. Driver Car Best lap Gap Laps
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’48.719 4
2 31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1’49.518 0.799 3
3 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1’51.345 2.626 3
4 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1’52.146 3.427 3
5 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1’52.343 3.624 4
6 7 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg Renault
8 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault
9 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari
10 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
11 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda
12 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari
13 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Toro Rosso-Renault
14 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda
15 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer
16 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari
17 10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Renault
18 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari
19 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull-TAG Heuer
20 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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5 comments on “Only five drivers set times in wet second session”

  1. Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
    6th October 2017, 8:04

    Good luck writing your (usually excellent) analysis, @keithcollantine :-)

  2. Must have been a fun session.

    Hamilton decent in the wet. I predict business as usual. Ham or Vet, 1st or 2nd.

    1. Or Max or Dan or even KR.

  3. I feel for the fans. Only 5 cars on the track.

  4. Props to Lewis for having the balls to go out and at least make an attempt when if he binned it he arguably has the most to lose.

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