2014 Japanese Grand Prix Friday - Practice
Live Text
Sort by
Keep an eye on the AUTOSPORT website through the European morning for more reaction to the events of Suzuka practice, plus EDD STRAW and GARY ANDERSON's analysis of Friday pace.
AUTOSPORT Live continues for the rest of the day over on our sister service Race Centre Live, which is covering the World Rally Championship's Rally of France as it happens.
Our F1 coverage resumes for practice three at 3am UK time on Saturday morning.
AUTOSPORT Live continues for the rest of the day over on our sister service Race Centre Live, which is covering the World Rally Championship's Rally of France as it happens.
Our F1 coverage resumes for practice three at 3am UK time on Saturday morning.
Breaking news
Another snippet from earlier this morning to be aware of: Pastor Maldonado has a grid penalty.
That's for exceeding his season allocation of engine parts this time rather than any driving behaviour.
And under 2014 rules, it might take him some time to serve it. If a driver cannot take their full 10-place grid penalty due to qualifying close enough to the back that there aren't nine cars to drop behind, the remaining positions are carried over to the next race.
Maldonado has never qualified the Lotus high enough to take a 10-place grid penalty in a single hit...
That's for exceeding his season allocation of engine parts this time rather than any driving behaviour.
And under 2014 rules, it might take him some time to serve it. If a driver cannot take their full 10-place grid penalty due to qualifying close enough to the back that there aren't nine cars to drop behind, the remaining positions are carried over to the next race.
Maldonado has never qualified the Lotus high enough to take a 10-place grid penalty in a single hit...
And Nico Rosberg was bursting with enthusiasm too, despite being outpaced by his title rival in the quicker session.
"The car is very, very quick here. It's great to see," said the German.
"I think this track suits us. That's the awesome feeling out there and I found a nice balance also, so a good long run in the end and all in all positive.
"One lap pace is good. It's good everywhere – one lap, long run, everything. The team has really brought a great car here."
"The car is very, very quick here. It's great to see," said the German.
"I think this track suits us. That's the awesome feeling out there and I found a nice balance also, so a good long run in the end and all in all positive.
"One lap pace is good. It's good everywhere – one lap, long run, everything. The team has really brought a great car here."
Quote
Today's pacesetter Lewis Hamilton was 1.2s clear of the best non-Mercedes driver, which on this occasion was Valtteri Bottas in the Williams.
Hamilton admitted he couldn't ever predict how dominant Mercedes was going to be these days.
"It changes from track to track and I don't really understand it. It's pretty good though. It's amazing what this team has done, to be able to come to one of the most demanding circuits for downforce and to be that competitive is fantastic."
Hamilton admitted he couldn't ever predict how dominant Mercedes was going to be these days.
"It changes from track to track and I don't really understand it. It's pretty good though. It's amazing what this team has done, to be able to come to one of the most demanding circuits for downforce and to be that competitive is fantastic."
Breaking news
Manfredi Ravetto
On track, Caterham had something to cheer about today: it outpaced Marussia in both sessions, although Kobayashi's crash will have been less pleasing.
Off-track, it's been a wild week for the team. JONATHAN NOBLE attended a press briefing with the Caterham chiefs earlier today where they attempted to address reports of major financial problems and bailiffs attending the team's factory in the UK.
Team boss Manfredi Ravetto reckoned things would have ben better if the new regime had made a clean break from Caterham's Leafield base, and said the squad had been "absolutely collapsing" before the new investors arrived.
Caterham: Keeping Leafield a mistake
While the F1 track action in Japan has ended for the day, over in France, what could be the 2014 World Rally Championship title decider is just beginning.
You can follow all the events of the Rally of France as they happen throughout the weekend with Race Centre Live. Will Sebastien Ogier clinch a second straight WRC title on home ground, or can Jari-Matti Latvala keep the battle alive?
You can follow all the events of the Rally of France as they happen throughout the weekend with Race Centre Live. Will Sebastien Ogier clinch a second straight WRC title on home ground, or can Jari-Matti Latvala keep the battle alive?
Breaking news
Here's the full report from that second practice session, as Lewis Hamilton dodged the yellow and red flags to set the pace ahead of Nico Rosberg.
Japanese GP second practice report
Japanese GP second practice report
The gap between Hamilton and Rosberg was 0.240s in that session. Bottas took best of the rest in third for Williams, 1.201s off the pace.
Checkered flag
The rest of the drivers make their way back to the pits, and to nobody's surprise it is confirmed that the session won't restart.
Final order at the end of Suzuka Friday:
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Bottas
4 Button
5 Vettel
6 Raikkonen
7 Alonso
8 Magnussen
9 Kvyat
10 Ricciardo
11 Vergne
12 Hulkenberg
13 Grosjean
14 Massa
15 Perez
16 Maldonado
17 Sutil
18 Gutierrez
19 Ericsson
20 Bianchi
21 Chilton
22 Kobayashi
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Bottas
4 Button
5 Vettel
6 Raikkonen
7 Alonso
8 Magnussen
9 Kvyat
10 Ricciardo
11 Vergne
12 Hulkenberg
13 Grosjean
14 Massa
15 Perez
16 Maldonado
17 Sutil
18 Gutierrez
19 Ericsson
20 Bianchi
21 Chilton
22 Kobayashi
Race control says the session will not be restarted, so that's the end of Friday practice.
Replays show Vergne lost drive, and his steering wheel display disappeared as well.
Vergne climbs over the barrier, and that must be the end of today's running with less than three minutes on the clock.
Red flag
For the third time today, a Toro Rosso has stopped. Vergne has come to a halt on the exit of Spoon Curve.
Rain
Vettel is reporting more rain, and Williams says that Massa has said the same thing.
Alonso is on the tail of Hulkenberg at the moment, having followed him for a whole lap. The Force India doesn't seem interested in letting the Ferrari go through.
Last laps for Button (currently fourth) and Alonso (currently seventh) were a 1m41.9s and a 1m43.0s respectively.
Rosberg is told that the rain is holding off, meaning he can do six timed laps.
Behind Button, Raikkonen takes to the run-off at 130R. By that corner's standards, it wasn't a particularly dramatic moment.
Button - on medium-compound tyres that are 16 laps-old - is drifting his way around the track at the moment.
Highest lap count for the session so far is Magnussen on 26. Conversely Kobayashi and Ricciardo only managed three each before crashes.
Rosberg locks out his outside front into the hairpin, and misses the apex as a result.
Order with 12 mins left: 1 Hamilton; 2 Rosberg; 3 Bottas; 4 Button; 5 Vettel; 6 Raikkonen; 7 Alonso; 8 Magnussen; 9 Kvyat; 10 Ricciardo.
Those spots of rain at Spoon Curve catch Vettel out - he has a twitch on the way in and then scrambles across the exit kerb.
Little difference in the leaders' lap times despite the rain in the air, although Hamilton just had a very slow middle sector.
Credit to Perez's engineer for using proper corner names. Unfortunately the Mexican responded by talking about Turn 11!
Perez is told to "gauge the conditions at Spoon and on the backstraight, 130R".
If we do get some proper rain in the next 19 minutes, will any of the teams try to get a few wet laps in? Given the forecasts for the weekend, it could be useful.
Rain
Umbrellas are going up in the grandstands...
Ferrari is changing Raikkonen's rear wing in the garage.
The Mercedes, which currently hold first and second, are in the middle of long runs on softs, with Hamilton a tenth or two quicker than Rosberg on recent laps.
Perez's first lap puts him 15th.
The Toro Rosso team tells Vergne that there could be some spots of rain soon.
Vergne has a big slide through the final corner, where Ricciardo crashed earlier. The drivers are having to hang onto these cars in some of the acceleration zones.
Perez has got out of the pits after his earlier problem and is about to do his first flying lap.
Vergne jumps from 16th to 11th as he continues to make up for lost time.
Rosberg is told: "Tyre temps still well under control. We may get rain at the end of the session."
Caterham had the edge over Marussia earlier, but it was the other way around in practice two until Ericsson got ahead of Bianchi just now.
The skies continue to darken as we are inside the final 30 minutes of the session.
Button has been stuck behind Grosjean for a few corners now, and the Lotus doesn't seem interested in letting him by. After following Grosjean through 130R and the chicane, Button has a look into Turn 1, but still he can't get by.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Glenn Freeman, Matt Beer, Ben Anderson
Published:
Lap:
