Japan Practice Session 1/2

Practice 1

Practice 1 saw the Williams of Logan Sargeant crash into the barriers at Turn 7. Sargeant seemed to be struggling with the curb, causing his right fornt wheel to hit the grass. This then caused his car to turn a near 270 degree angle, as his front tyre hit the barrier. This left the car unable to continue its participating in practice and caused a Red Flag to be waved. Sargeant's team radio after the crash stated, "I'm sorry man. Yeah I'm okay". Sargeant got out of the incident uninjured.

Nico Hulkenberg was shown a Black and White flag during Practice, as his Haas went over the pit exit line. This was due to the Haas trying to overtake the RB at the pitline exit going onto the track. Traffic seemed to be a huge issue today as drivers, such as George Russell (Mercedes) complained about the issue over the radio, "This McLaren just stopped in the middle of the corner here". Whilst other drivers like Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) showed their frustatrion through hand gestures.

2024 Super Formula driver Ayumu Iwasa, has taken over car number 3 (Ricciardo's) for the first practice session. This made for a Full Japense Line Up for RB, During First Practice.

Multiple teams have brought upgrades for this weekend. Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin, McLaren, Alpine, RB and Williams. Williams are still without a spare chassis, but, they managed to bring over some frontwing endplate changes going into this Grand Prix. Mercedes and Haas were the only teams not to bring any upgrades to this Grand Prix.

Practice 1

Red Bull-VER|1.30.056 (S)
Red Bull-PER|+0.181 (S)
Ferrari-SAI|+0.213 (S)
Mercedes-RUS|+0.474 (S)
Mercedes-HAM|+0.487 (S)
Ferrari-LEC|+0.502 (S)
Aston Martin-ALO|+0.543 (S)
McLaren-PIA|+1.109 (S)
RB-TSU|+1.174 (S)
McLaren-NOR|+1.184 (S)
Alpine-OCO|+1.879 (S)
Williams-ALB|+1.887 (S)
Haas-HUL|+1.902 (S)
Kick Sauber-BOT|+1.998 (M)
Aston Martin-STR|+1.999(S)
RB-IWA|+2.047 (S)
Alpine-GAS|+2.221 (S)
Kick Sauber-ZHO|+2.582 (M)
Haas-MAG|+2.747 (S)
Williams-SAR|+3.148 (M)

Practice 2

Sargeant was forced to sit out of this Practice Session after his crash in FP1.

Rain made the session start slow as no drivers went out for roughly 15 minutes after the session 'started'. Hamilton was the first driver out on the track after a near 17 minute wait. Hamilton over the radio stated "It's pretty dry. There's a couple of small spots but, Kerbs and stuff are a bit wet.".

Daniel Ricciardo returned back into Car 3 after letting Super Formula Driver, Iwasa, use his car during Practice 1. This made it Ricciardo's first pratice of the day. He went out of the pitlane and after a few corners reported "Yeah, It's starting to rain more.". After this many teams stayed in and did not put their cars out on track.

Piastri had a drive on track with about 25 minutes of the session remaining. Other drivers such as Albon and Bottas had a go on track, but many drivers still stayed in the pits

Practice 2