Hamilton seizes Friday advantage

F1 Grand Prix, GP Japan, Circuit Suzuka

Having lost out in the morning session, Lewis Hamilton took the advantage on Friday afternoon at Japan by topping the second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg was the closest match to Hamilton, 0.240s off the pace. While Hamilton didn't have the cleanest of laps on the medium tyre, Rosberg also lost time on his flyer, locking up in the final chicane.

Valtteri Bottas was third fastest, even though he was more than a full second behind Rosberg. Button, Vettel and the two Ferrari drivers were next up in the fastest times ranking.

Overall, the session was very eventful, especially for Daniel Ricciardo who was sidelined after a crash, having completed only 3 laps during the session. Ricciardo lost control of his Red Bull RB10 on the entry of the final corner, locking up all wheels and ending up in the barriers. Leaving the car in a troublesome position, the track got red flagged for a few minutes until everything got cleared.

Also crashing out were Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez, hitting the barriers at Spoon curve. Kamui Kobayashi also messed up by going out on turn 3, completing just 3 laps after having had to sit out FP1 in favour of Roberto Mehri.

The final moments also saw some drops of rain, a possible prelude of the anticipated typhoon Phanfone.