Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Suzuka, 2024

Piastri quickest as seven drivers sit out damp second practice session

Formula 1

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Formula 1 drivers did little meaningful running in the second practice session at Suzuka as damp conditions meant they covered few if any laps.

With several drivers not wishing to use up their limited dry tyres in damp conditions, there were no representative lap times set over the hour.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri set the fastest time out of the nine drivers to complete a timed lap. Seven drivers, including both Red Bulls and Aston Martins, did not leave the garage at all.

Another driver who did not leave the garage was Logan Sargeant, for a different reason. The heavy damage sustained to his Williams in the opening practice session meant he was never going to take part in the session. However, team mate Alexander Albon also did not set a timed lap throughout the hour.

While the conditions remained safe enough for drivers to run, no one chose to push either on intermediates or on slick tyres. Piastri’s 1’34.725 was the quickest time of the hour, but significantly slower than Max Verstappen’s best from the earlier session.

Lewis Hamilton was half a second slower than Piastri with soft tyres, while Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was third fastest, four seconds slower than Piastri’s best. The RB pairing of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were the highest placed drivers to have set their best times on the intermediate tyres, in fourth and fifth respectively, while Lando Norris was sixth for McLaren.

Australian Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz Jnr was seventh for Ferrari ahead of Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen in nithh. The two Sauber drivers, Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, Williams’ Albon and Nico Hulkenberg all had multiple runs but did not complete a timed lap throughout the session.

Weather forecasts currently indicate a maximum 20% chance of rain for Saturday. There is a higher 40% risk for rain to impact Sunday’s race day, however the forecasters appear to have reduced the likelihood of rain compared what was expected heading into the weekend.

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2024 Japanese Grand Prix second practice result

P. # Driver Team Model Time Gap Laps
1 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes MCL38 1’34.725 7
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes W15 1’35.226 0.501 6
3 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari SF-24 1’38.760 4.035 4
4 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB-Honda RBPT 01 1’40.946 6.221 8
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB-Honda RBPT 01 1’41.913 7.188 9
6 24 Zhou Guanyu Sauber-Ferrari C44 No time 7
7 77 Valtteri Bottas Sauber-Ferrari C44 No time 7
8 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes FW46 No time 5
9 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari VF-24 No time 4
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg Haas-Ferrari VF-24 No time 5
11 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Ferrari SF-24 No time 3
12 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes MCL38 No time 3
13 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault A524 No time 3

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2024 Japanese Grand Prix

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Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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11 comments on “Piastri quickest as seven drivers sit out damp second practice session”

  1. So, they don’t even bother trying out the wet conditions, working on a wet set-up, or letting the drivers practice driving in slippery conditions? What is this??
    This is a pathetic state of affairs.

    1. It’s unfortunate for the fans, but apparently the teams expect no repeat of rain in the later sessions. Which might be a bit presumptuous looking at the forecast, but either way, with Suzuka being a bit of a risky track at the best of times it’s perhaps not laudable, but at least understandable, why some teams would prefer not to go out.

    2. Knowing they will red flag in case of rain in the race, what’s the use?

    3. Sunday was rain expected but new information it will be warm and bone dry on Sunday so they didn’t need the info on wet surface at all.

    4. It wasn’t really wet enough for any useful running. Would just have destroyed a set of Inters in no time so not worth it when they may need them for quali and the race.

  2. I do hope Piastri saves the best till Q3 tomorrow.

  3. I’m hoping we get more rain for quali tomorrow now. Not too much of course, but enough to make those who sat out P2 regret missing out on some wet running practice.

    1. But your setup must be for Sunday as it will be dry even if it rains on Saterday.

      1. notagrumpyfan
        5th April 2024, 13:31

        Let’s hope for rain on Sunday as well; weather forecast changed before, it can change again.

  4. I saw the highlights on the youtube channel. Most drivers who went out said it was dry. But they still didn’t want to run? Why? Save dry tyres?

  5. The reason for the lack of running was apparently due to a rule change for this year that takes away the ‘free’ set of wet/inter tires they used to get for Friday running.

    So with rain expected later into the weekend most of them were reluctant to use up a set of tires they are likely to need later in the weekend.

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