FP2: Piastri tops rain-interrupted second practice

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri set the benchmark in the rain-interrupted second one-hour session with the majority of the field having elected to stay in the pits in the tough conditions. F1Technical's senior writer Balázs Szabó reports on Free Practice 2.

It was a quiet start to the second practice session as the entire field opted to stay in their garages while the rain fell at Suzuka. Although it was only a brief shower, it was enough to force drivers to spend most of the session in their garages. The issue was that there was not enough water on the track to use the intermediate tyres, but the surface was too damp for slick tyres.

While some drivers went out for exploratory laps, it was not until the dying minutes of the session that drivers dared to complete a few laps on the red-walled slick tyres.

It was Oscar Piastri to end the session on top with a time of 1m34.725s with Lewis Hamilton ending the session second-quickest, followed by Ferrari racer Charles Leclerc. Only Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz had timed lap in Free Practice 2.

Williams driver Logan Sargeant did not participate in the afternoon session as the Grove-based outfit was forced to change key components in his car after his shunt in the first practice.

Expanding on the damage, Williams' Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson said: "Whilst Logan’s crash caused a lot of damage, it was limited to the suspension, wings and floor with no damage done to the chassis or PU. The extent of the damage meant that he was unable to run in FP2, but he will be back in action in FP3."