Brendon Hartley has set the tenth quickest time in the second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. The Torot Raoos driver was quicker than his team mate Pierre Gasly who set the 13th fastest time.
“I had a really enjoyable first day in Suzuka,” commented Hartley. “I spent the first couple of runs in FP1 getting up to speed with the track and I really like it around here. We made a few changes during the session that was clearly in the right direction, and we made a good step to get the car more in line with how I like it for FP2. The pace looks quite competitive as I finished the session in P10, so it’s a positive feeling heading into tomorrow.”
First Practice Session
Best lap: 1:31.908, pos. 17th, 23 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap: 1:30.502, pos. 10th, 27 laps
“It was a good morning as I was able to do a few laps and get a good feeling with the car, which was positive. We had some really good data, but unfortunately we ran into some trouble this afternoon so we didn’t complete many laps in FP2,” said Gasly. “I was only able to do one push lap for performance and then a couple of laps for the long run, which means I didn’t learn too much. It’s good that Brendon had a clean session so we can use his data to improve the performance and get a good result for Qualifying tomorrow.”
First Practice Session
Best lap: 1:31.073, pos. 11th, 20 laps
Second Practice Session
Best lap: 1:30.795, pos. 13th, 10 laps
“We had a very productive FP1, carrying out aero and mechanical setup tests,” said Jonathan Eddolls (Chief Race Engineer). “Brendon completed some rake work for us during his installation lap, gathering data to further improve our correlation from track to wind tunnel and CFD.
“Japan is a very high speed circuit and can benefit from giving the car a very stable aero platform, so we brought new parts here to work on this. They worked well so they have stayed on both cars. The other major focus was on the re-introduction of the latest PU spec from Honda.
“They worked very hard on the dyno by improving the mapping and calibrations since Russia and these changes have all worked as expected. The drivability and performance of the latest PU have improved and we want to thank Honda for this. FP2 was a smooth and productive session for Brendon, the balance was better and he extracted a good lap from the car.
“Unfortunately, this afternoon’s session was not so fruitful for Pierre, as an issue within the fuel system developed on the last fire up before hitting the track, which required us to change parts within the cell.
“Normally, this would have taken at least two hours, but the mechanics did a fantastic job to get the parts changed in record time and allow Pierre to get out for a run at the end of the session.
“Obviously, this compromised it a lot as he was trying to set a fast lap with DRS while all other cars were on their race simulations. Even so, we found a small window in the traffic so Pierre could get a feel of the balance.
“The car is looking relatively competitive, so we will work hard tonight to ensure we have smooth running from FP3 onwards.”
Second Practice results
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m28.217s – 31
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m28.678s 0.461s 30
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m29.050s 0.833s 36
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 1m29.257s 1.040s 32
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m29.498s 1.281s 33
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m29.513s 1.296s 27
7 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 1m30.035s 1.818s 32
8 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m30.440s 2.223s 32
9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m30.478s 2.261s 33
10 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Honda 1m30.502s 2.285s 27
11 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m30.510s 2.293s 28
12 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m30.644s 2.427s 36
13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 1m30.795s 2.578s 10
14 Carlos Sainz Renault 1m30.904s 2.687s 31
15 Charles Leclerc Sauber/Ferrari 1m30.906s 2.689s 26
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m30.956s 2.739s 25
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Renault 1m30.988s 2.771s 34
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams/Mercedes 1m31.087s 2.870s 39
19 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 1m31.215s 2.998s 32
20 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 1m31.981s 3.764s 32
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