It would be time for cars to return on track as it’s the starting time for the second practice session of the weekend. However, no one is out due to the intermediate weather conditions: it’s raining, but still not enough for wet or slick tyres to run.
All the drivers are hanging out around their cars, ready to jump in at the right moment, apart from Logan Sargeant. The American driver, returning to F1 after missing out at the Australian GP and running the chassis fixed by Williams after Albon’s crash, will have to sit out this session due to the heavy crash he sustained during FP1.
12 minutes into the session, the first driver out on track is Lewis Hamilton, who is assessing the track conditions on sleek tyres. The Mercedes driver mentioned on the radio that the track has pretty much dried out, apart from a couple spots and returned to the pits.
Next out was RB F1’s Ricciardo, who had skipped FP1 due to Ayumu Iwasa taking his car for a rookie practice run. The former McLaren driver however didn’t appear as positive as Hamilton, as he opened the radio to tell his team that the rain is picking up again.
Piastri also went out for a sightseeing lap at the half hour mark of the session, agreeing with the seven times World Champion that it’s not that wet. The comment prompted other drivers to join him: Zhou, Tsunoda and Bottas.
The Faenza-based team told Tsunoda that no more rain is expected for the ongoing session. The Japanese driver in his home GP signed the first timed lap of the session in 1:42.304s. Alexander Albon came out on track as well, but returned to the pits after a single lap.
Tsunoda is joined on track by his teammate, who puts his name on the provisional standings in P2 with a 1:46.461s. The young Honda talent remained out on track and ultimately improved his best lap to 1:40.946s, with his running time in FP2 coming to an end with 20 minutes to go into the session.
Zhou had another trip around Suzuka fifty minutes into the session. He’s joined later by his teammate Valtteri Bottas, Albon and the Haas drivers.
Piastri improves Tsunoda’s time with two minutes to go into the session, firstly with a 1:39.105s then an even faster 1:36.862s. Many more drivers are joining the track, including Hamilton and the Ferraris. Norris on his one chance ran wide off track on his cold tyres.
The young McLaren driver’s final time of the day is a 1:34.725s, ahead of Hamilton’s 1:35.225s and Leclerc’s only attempt on a 1:38.760s.
