F1 Japanese GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
Friday's action from the fourth round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Live AppleTV Race Audio
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz ended the Red Bull and Max Verstappen domination last time out with victory in Australia, but many expect the Dutch driver to fight back this weekend at the iconic Suzuka.
The majority of the F1 paddock also sees the Japanese GP as a place where the true pecking order will be revealed due to the track’s characteristics and demands on the cars.
First practice starts at 3:30am BST follow by second practice at 7am BST.
At least Oscar Piastri is in the cockpit of the McLaren with his helmet on. But no signs yet of anybody looking to give the fans a show so far. So how about a long read while we wait? For Plus subscribers, Adam Cooper chatted to former F1 racer Sakon Yamamoto about his unusual career that has led to public office in Japan.
The teams' reticence to head out does remind me a little of the scene in Rat Race, when gambling magnate Donald Sinclair exasperatedly proclaims that Breckin Meyer's character is winning the race to claim a duffel bag of $2m because he is the closest to the door.
The RB team is spoiled for choice with reserve drivers this weekend. It has the usual occupant of that role Liam Lawson on stand-by, while Ayumu Iwasa filled in for FP1 in Daniel Ricciardo's car for his first official F1 practice session on home soil. He certainly didn't disgrace himself in ending up 16th.
We're having to be a little patient here, as are the Japanese fans. Teams will have to weigh up the risk/reward factor of potentially seeing a driver skate off the road as they seek to gather as much useful data as they can. Question is, how much useful information will be on offer in such conditions?
As a result, there isn't a great deal in the way of drivers looking to rush out of the pits as the session officially begins. TV shots show Alonso, Verstappen and Russell out of their cars chatting amiably to team personnel.
After dry running earlier, the timing screens inform us that the risk of rain for this session is, erm, 100%. The track has been classed as wet, for fans of equations.
As a reminder, the tyre allocation this weekend is towards the harder end of the range. The soft is the C3, the medium the C4, and the hard the C5. Not surprising due to the tortuous strains exerted on the cars through the opening series of Esses, the double-left Spoon curve and the famous 130R blast that in modern F1 cars is taken flat out.
So that means 19 cars will be on track for FP2, and Williams will again be on the back foot without as much long-run data to call on. Its hopes will be squarely on the shoulders of Alex Albon for this session.
F1 is a fast-moving thing isn't it? Moments after sharing that story with Vowles' comments in the team principals press conference, it was announced by Williams that Sargeant will not participate in FP2 as his damaged car is repaired (again). A statement says: "Due to the extent of damage to Logan’s car, he will not participate in FP2. The team will continue repairs in time for tomorrow’s Free Practice session."
Logan Sargeant, Williams FW46, climbs out of his damaged car after a crash in FP1
The other major story to emerge from this morning was the latest hiccup at Williams. Now driving the repaired chassis that Alex Albon crashed heavily in Melbourne's FP1, Logan Sargeant's return to the cockpit didn't go to plan when he crashed to bring out red flags earlier on. But Williams boss James Vowles stresses it survived intact. More on that here.
The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that Red Bull's car features some intriguing changes to its cooling layout this weekend. You can read more about that here.
The Red Bull driver has won each of the last two editions of the Japanese Grand Prix since its return to the calendar after COVID denied us the 2020 and 2021 races. In fact, the last time Verstappen wasn't in the winning car at Suzuka, it was Valtteri Bottas aboard a Mercedes in 2019. And Verstappen's chart-topping FP1 time was a warning shot that he'll be the man to beat again this weekend.
The Suzuka circuit is one of the most challenging, and therefore rewarding, drivers' tracks on the calendar. A regularly cited track by drivers in our weekly Friday favourite series, its combination of fast sweepers is a pleasure to take in. And FP1 was an early indication that it will be an enjoyable one for Max Verstappen too.
With that, we'll take a quick breather ahead of second practice which will start at 7am BST. Time for some breakfast/coffee/sleep (delete as appropriate). Go well!
"OK Ayumu, that was a clean session, you should be pleased, good job," Iwasa is told over team radio at the end of his rookie run. "Thank you so much for having me and this opportunity," he replies. What a polite young man, my nan would be a fan.
Verstappen leads a Red Bull 1-2 in opening practice, with a 0.181s gap over Perez. Then comes Sainz, fresh from his Australia win, with both Mercedes drivers splitting him from Ferrari team-mate Leclerc in sixth. Then comes Alonso, Piastri and Tsunoda.
Perez, who has enough time for an out-lap and an in-lap, also makes a move on to the hard tyres. But that is your lot as the chequered flag is out to signal the end of FP1.
Our sole rookie in this session is continuing to do a solid job at RB. Iwasa is 15th and his personal best is nine-tenths of a second off team-mate Tsunoda as he continues to build speed.
Into the final 10 minutes of FP1 and most drivers have switched focus to some long-run data gathering. Perez's previous lap was half a second slower than his personal best which hints at a quick drop off on the softs.
What can Red Bull's rivals reply with? Sainz is the best of the rest so far, a 1m30.269s putting him third and two-tenths off Verstappen's outright lap time.
Hulkenberg has been shown the black and white flag for crossing the white line at pit exit. Nothing too serious will come of it as it is FP1, just a warning not to do it again.
FP1 is back under way with just under 18 minutes to go. That's caused a bit of a stampede to get going again having lost a chunk of time that was set to be spent on the softs.
One of our trackside team, Ronald Vording, gained a knack of being a crash magnet last year, and it appears the same is true this year. He was trackside when Sargeant went off.
As we mentioned earlier in the session, Williams will have no spare chassis ready until the Miami GP, so if Sargeant's car isn't repairable that will be his weekend over. All eyes will be on the Williams garage during the lunch break.
Williams faces a hefty rebuild job for a second Friday practice in succession - with Albon's off in Australia combined with its lack of spare chassis triggering the end of Sargeant's weekend. Has the same thing just happened, but this time the American the cause of his own downfall?
TV replays show Sargeant goes wide at Turn 7, the exit of the S curves at the end of the first sector, and once on the grass he loses control and it sends him into the barrier. A heavy first hit with the front is followed by a second heft knock from the rear.
The American driver reports he is OK over team radio before he steps out of the car. On first look he's wrecked the front wing and picked up damage to the rear wing.
Newey, with trusty red notepad in hand, is carefully watching over Perez's Red Bull as set-up tweaks are made in the garage. I bet a few F1 teams would love a flick through those notes.
