Max Verstappen topped the times for the second session in a row at Suzuka on Friday as Pierre Gasly suffered a crash at the very end of practice.
The Red Bull driver set the quickest time once again in second practice, being the only driver to complete a lap time under the 1’31 mark. Charles Leclerc was three tenths slower for Ferrari with Lando Norris third for McLaren.The conditions for the start of the second practice session were identical to those that drivers had experienced for the first session earlier in the day. As with the opening hour, teams had the opportunity to run Pirelli’s prototype 2024 C2 compound tyres in the second session, with many drivers opting to do so at the start of the second hour.
Valtteri Bottas used the experimental tyres to set the early benchmark with a 1’33.163, well off the pace of Verstappen’s best time from the first session. The world champion was the last driver to take to the track, but when he did it was on soft tyres, which he used to immediately beat his own best time from the first hour with a 1’31.377.
Kevin Magnussen had a scare through the first corner when he started a push lap only to find Carlos Sainz Jnr off the pace at the exit. The Haas driver had to take avoiding action to miss the Ferrari. After getting back up to speed, Sainz put his Ferrari into second place on the medium tyres, before his team mate Leclerc beat him by three tenths, still three further tenths from Verstappen’s best.
Soon, more drivers began to fit soft tyres. George Russell’s first effort with softs saw him split the Ferraris to go third, then Lando Norris fitted fresh soft tyres and jumped to the top of the times by two tenths. Then, Leclerc posted the fastest time of the day with a 1’31.008 to go quickest of all, before Verstappen went three tenths faster than Leclerc to move back to the top of the order, the first driver under the 1’31 barrier with a 1’30.688.
After the soft tyre runs, teams focused on race simulations for the latter part of the session. But in the closing moments of the hour, Pierre Gasly locked up under braking for the second Degner, ran off the track and clipped the wall, damaging the front of his Alpine and bringing out the red flags. With just a couple of minutes remaining, the session was effectively ended with all post-session practice starts cancelled.
Verstappen was quickest by three tenths of a second over Leclerc with Norris just a tenth further behind in third. Sainz was fourth ahead of Russell, Fernando Alonso and Alexander Albon in seventh. Oscar Piastri, Sergio Perez and Bottas rounded out the top ten drivers at the end of the first day.
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2023 Japanese Grand Prix second practice result
| Position | Number | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB19 | 1’30.688 | 19 | |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-23 | 1’31.008 | 0.320 | 23 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL60 | 1’31.152 | 0.464 | 22 |
| 4 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | SF-23 | 1’31.237 | 0.549 | 22 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W14 | 1’31.328 | 0.640 | 22 |
| 6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR23 | 1’31.492 | 0.804 | 22 |
| 7 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW45 | 1’31.555 | 0.867 | 23 |
| 8 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL60 | 1’31.662 | 0.974 | 22 |
| 9 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB19 | 1’31.710 | 1.022 | 24 |
| 10 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C43 | 1’31.739 | 1.051 | 22 |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR23 | 1’31.771 | 1.083 | 22 |
| 12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | A523 | 1’31.794 | 1.106 | 22 |
| 13 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | VF-23 | 1’31.797 | 1.109 | 24 |
| 14 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | W14 | 1’31.829 | 1.141 | 21 |
| 15 | 40 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | AT04 | 1’32.141 | 1.453 | 23 |
| 16 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | C43 | 1’32.165 | 1.477 | 16 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | VF-23 | 1’32.169 | 1.481 | 23 |
| 18 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | AT04 | 1’32.178 | 1.490 | 26 |
| 19 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A523 | 1’32.179 | 1.491 | 22 |
| 20 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | FW45 | 1’32.320 | 1.632 | 25 |
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2023 Japanese Grand Prix
- Norris: Red Bull’s dominance down to ‘small things which make a big difference’
- Mercedes must halve deficit to Red Bull before 2024 season starts – Hamilton
- Mercedes expect “tight” fight for second in championship after Ferrari gains
- Norris breaks Hulkenberg’s record for most points without a win in F1
- Transcript: What Alonso really meant by being “thrown to the lions” at Suzuka
SteveP
22nd September 2023, 8:42
Well, at least he won’t get a grid penalty for that collision :)
Tsunoda might have.
MacLeod (@macleod)
22nd September 2023, 13:21
depends on how much componenten he has to replace ….
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
22nd September 2023, 8:56
Verstappen looks like he had a poor weekend last week. Pace was there he just couldn’t unlock it.
notagrumpyfan
22nd September 2023, 9:04
I think RBR did it on purpose to excite all the commenters here who claimed it was due to the flexing body parts directive.
Perez however wants to continue with that plan.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
22nd September 2023, 9:21
No, Max doesn’t have “poor weekends”, lacking raw pace, like Hamilton, Leclerc or every other driver. Wins record has been beaten at Monza, so FIA and FOM punished Red Bull in Singapore in an identical fashion to Mercedes in 2015. Sainz and Ferrari can celebrate their hollow victory (Brought To You By FIA And FOM), but normal service resumes in Japan.
Facts&Stats
22nd September 2023, 9:35
So you think the Sargeant accident and subsequent SC was timed deliberately to ruin Verstappen’s race?
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
22nd September 2023, 10:08
No, but do YOU think going from winning 14 races in a row and qualifying on the front row to being 8th quickest car, 1s/lap off the pace in Singapore only to be at the top the very next weekend is completely normal? That it never happened at this track to front runners with the exception of 2015 and 2023, both times in very, very puzzling circumstances?
Fred
22nd September 2023, 10:13
It helped persuade watchers that Red Bull are not still streets ahead…..believe it if you will.
notagrumpyfan
22nd September 2023, 11:17
You seemed to have missed the finer details of their (esp. Verstappen’s) performance. As pointed out by someone last weekend, Verstappen was closer to pole in Singapore this year, than he was last year. RBR/Verstappen have clearly made some progress.
It’s just a shame that a few other teams wringled themselves into the space between Ferrari and RBR/Verstappen.
And interestingly, Verstappen had a very strong race; he even could’ve won it had the SC come out at a time around his required pit stop.
No conspiracy, nothing untoward happened.
PS you can easily identify conspiracy theories (even your own). Conspiracy theorists only use arguments like “don’t you think it is strange that …?”, or “this has never happened before”, rather than sharing some factual evidence of what (might have) happened.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
22nd September 2023, 11:39
No it is not and you are right to question that. However, I think it is wiser to go for the most obvious reason (Red Bull dropped the ball in setup) rather than some theory about external mingling.
Another Armchair Expert
22nd September 2023, 13:09
Here you go again with the “8th quickest car” BS.
RBR was not the 8th quickest car in Singapore.
Wake up from your made-up dream. Max is only a GOD to you. Not to others.
MadMax (@madmax)
22nd September 2023, 10:36
One can easily tell Max messed up by counting the swears and f-words on his radio. And last race he together with his team messed up his qualy setup big time. Sorry to rectify your made up world.
anon
22nd September 2023, 10:49
This sort of rhetoric is sounding disturbingly familiar to a former Dutch nationalist poster on this site who went on about how Max was such a supreme and perfect being due to his ethnicity.
SteveP
22nd September 2023, 12:59
Weird, Max is Belgian.
MacLeod (@macleod)
22nd September 2023, 13:24
On this site? strange i never seen a forummember like that on these forums.
Oople
22nd September 2023, 11:55
Ah, so this is the result when an idiot headbutts the keyboard for three minutes… interesting.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
22nd September 2023, 14:27
@armchairexpert
You seem to be a little bit confused otherwise you can share with us the details of any technical directive issued by the FIA in Singapore 2015.
Moi
22nd September 2023, 9:58
RB got the final setup wrong, it happens. This is shown by the fact that their FP3 was better than qualifying and race, the pace just wasn’t there. Then he got unlucky with the SC, otherwise he might have still been on the podium regardless.
SadF1fan
22nd September 2023, 10:00
Verstappen’s pace was there, the Red Bull lacked severe stability on the limit.
Very snappy, which made that both drivers had to fight the car.
Both Windsor and Palmer did a break down of what happened.
Johns
22nd September 2023, 14:11
Singapore seems to need to be driven like a flat track. The corners are too short for the car to ever take a set and establish stability in the corners. Red Bull normally has a well stuck car, not a drifter, whereas everyone else seems to be drifting the car in order to keep up. It is not about downforce, but making lots of downforce with the smallest drag. So on a proper track, Red Bull can shine. JMHO
Dex
22nd September 2023, 14:10
Right. That’s why he was much better than Perez.
Todfod (@todfod)
22nd September 2023, 9:41
The podium fight between Leclerc, Sainz and Norris should be fun. If Perez doesn’t get on the podium this weekend.. I can’t see him retaining his seat for next season.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd September 2023, 10:28
The thing is, it’s ok to replace perez, but with who? Ricciardo didn’t do enough races to prove he still has it in red bull, lawson is good but they don’t even seem to give him an alpha seat, let alone a red bull, and tsunoda will never make the jump to red bull. Unless you think they’re getting someone from outside the red bull family.
Todfod (@todfod)
22nd September 2023, 12:40
They need to look outside their Red Bull stable of drivers. But if that’s not an option… then Yuki looks like a better option than Sergio. He’s made fewer errors/crashes than Sergio this season, and his pace hasn’t been as poor as Sergio’s either. I feel Red Bull has nothing to lose .. the worst case scenario is that they’ve replaced one rubbish driver with another.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
22nd September 2023, 16:08
Yuki barely hangs in there with Lawson, imagine going against Max, at his highest level in F1. Ricciardo, Gasly, Albon were far better drivers and I’d say mentally stronger than Yuki, while VER wasn’t a 3 time WDC.
This would kill his career.
Just a Fan
22nd September 2023, 12:41
Perez won’t go anywhere if he finishes 2nd in the championship. RB will be happy.
Todfod (@todfod)
22nd September 2023, 12:44
If Red Bull are confident that they will maintain the same car advantage they had this season, in 2024, then they should retain Perez. If not, then they need to replace him with someone who is more capable of finishing P2 next year as well.
Doggy
22nd September 2023, 12:52
I agree with @esploratore1 there is no real solid alternative. It’s not only about driver skill, but also keeping the RBR team in harmony.
Surely they don’t want another Webber/Vettel or Lewis/Alonso type of situation.
@todfod, who would you get to replace Checo? And so how millions of $ would you pay to get them?
James Bond (@jamesbond)
22nd September 2023, 14:06
Liam Lawson.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
22nd September 2023, 16:23
Probably the plan for RedBull was to give Ricciardo half a season at AlphaTauri to see if he can be an alternative to Perez. Now, with the injury, this will no longer be an option and they’ll stick with Perez until 2025.
My dream would be Norris in that seat, but seems like a pipe dream and Max / Jos would probably veto it.
Rob (@rossorob)
22nd September 2023, 16:34
Perez retaining P2 in the Championship would probably be enough to keep him at Red Bull for 2024. A few more podiums and a sneaky win before the season is out would also help his chances. Right now, there is a lack of suitable alternative. It’s no secret that RB would put Norris in their car tomorrow if they could – it’s just that his contract with Mclaren running until the end of 2025 means they’d have to buy him out two years in advance – quite the expense. The smarter move would be to keep Perez for 24′ and poach Norris for a smaller expense for 25′, providing he doesn’t think Macca can give him a race winning/championship contending car by then. This would cover RB for the future in the event that Max decides he wants to leave to race endurance cars or do something else with his life.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
22nd September 2023, 10:11
Oh well, it was fun whilst it lasted
Illusive (@illusive)
22nd September 2023, 10:15
Another TD another egg on the face of conspiracy theorists. Just accept RB has done a fantastic job and Max has been flawless.
MadMax (@madmax)
22nd September 2023, 10:37
yeah, there job in last weeks qualy was hilarious
MacLeod (@macleod)
22nd September 2023, 13:27
Last week was not so great setup wise and i.c.w. safety cars during the race it would be hard to get on the podium. (But i have to give it to Max if the safetycar were beter for him he would be also battleing for the top spot.)
Puzano (@puzano)
22nd September 2023, 11:17
My god this place has become such a toxic enviroment. Sad to see.
Good job yet again by Verstappen. Does anyone know why Perez is a second of his teammate?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd September 2023, 11:32
Honestly it’s a practice session, they run different setups, fuel loads, tyres and other stuff, which can easily make 1 second difference or even more, it’s irrelevant being 1 sec off in practice. Since it’s not gonna be wet, I’m expecting perez to be within 4 tenths of verstappen in quali, since he seemed to be back to a decent level the last few weekends on 1 lap.
MaddSusie (@maddsusie)
22nd September 2023, 11:51
@puzano – I know in FP1 Perez was using the older floor, whereas Max was using the new floor taken to Singapore. I’m not sure whether this was the case in FP2.
MacLeod (@macleod)
22nd September 2023, 13:29
FP2 both used the new floor…
Doggy
22nd September 2023, 12:45
@pusano, unfortunately you are right. This is one of the issues with social media…too many keyboard warriors…
I’m genuinely trying to figure out what the best approach would be:
* Ignore them
* call them out
* counter their toxicity with data based arguments
As for Perez, he said he was trying a different setup. Regardless, he will be slower than max by .3 secs
Ferdinand
22nd September 2023, 11:44
Thats the thing with Max. If he faces a set back he usually comes back stronger. Gap to Perez is staggering and partly reflecting how good Max is (partly, since Perez isnt exactly the sharpest tool in the shed).
Just a Fan
22nd September 2023, 12:43
Reminds me of Mexican GP 2018, lost out to Ricciardo in QF – obliterates everyone on raceday.