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Formula 1 Japanese GP

Japanese GP Friday practice

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Vettel lost a bit in the final sector, where he had to get around Ericsson. That prompted an impatient wave.
Stopwatch
Vettel goes fastest, his 1m29.166s is 0.211s than Hamilton.
Even with a bit more drizzle in the air, Vettel is going faster still in sector two.
Raikkonen improves his time on super-softs but stays fourth. He's within 0.261s of the pace now.
Stopwatch
Vettel immediately bangs in the best first sector of anyone so far today.
Vettel was already 0.042s off Hamilton's super-soft benchmark when on softs, so this will be interesting.
Raikkonen and Vettel are among those out quickly, and they're using super-softs for the first time.
Green flag
Cars are now heading back to the end of the pitlane, and the session is back under way.
Information
Race control says the session will restart in three minutes, which will leave 23 minutes of running.
Sainz has arrived back in the pitlane as the clean-up from his crash continues and the clock counts down.
Information
Tail end: 16 Sainz; 17 Stroll; 18 Gasly; 19 Wehrlein; 20 Ericsson
Information
Midfield: 11 Grosjean; 12 Palmer; 13 Ocon; 14 Massa; 15 Perez
Information
Order: 1 Hamilton; 2 Vettel; 3 Ricciardo; 4 Raikkonen; 5 Bottas; 6 Verstappen; 7 Hulkenberg; 8 Vandoorne; 9 Alonso; 10 Magnussen
Another replay shows Stroll had to pretty much come to a halt when he encountered Sainz's wrecked Toro Rosso in the middle of the road.
Sainz's Toro Rosso went quite dramatically up in the air there as a front wheel folded under the car as it spun back across the track.
Replays show Sainz ran wide as he accelerated out of the hairpin, was spat back across the track and went head on into the barriers.
Sainz's crash has happened on the exit of the hairpin. There's a lot of damage to the car.
Radio Comms
"I don't know what happened, I lost the car," reports Sainz, who is not hurt.
Crash
Sainz has crashed heavily - red flag.
Radio Comms
Verstappen tells Red Bull that "the power cuts off" when he makes the setting change it suggests.
Improvement from Vandoorne - despite a slightly lairy exit from Spoon, he goes ahead of team-mate Alonso into eighth.
Information
Tail end: 16 Sainz; 17 Stroll; 18 Gasly; 19 Wehrlein; 20 Ericsson
Information
Midfield: 11 Palmer; 12 Ocon; 13 Vandoorne; 14 Massa; 15 Perez
Information
Order: 1 Hamilton; 2 Vettel; 3 Ricciardo; 4 Raikkonen; 5 Bottas; 6 Verstappen; 7 Hulkenberg; 8 Alonso; 9 Magnussen; 10 Grosjean
Radio Comms
"My rear is not so good," reports Raikkonen. "If anything, we've made it worse."
Ben Anderson
This current run looks a lot better for Vettel - more like the smooth sailing Raikkonen has enjoyed from the start.

Both Mercedes were looking nicely hooked up on the super-soft. The Force Indias look fast too, but the drivers are definitely having to work a bit to hang onto it.
Information
Order: 1 Hamilton; 2 Vettel +0.042s; 3 Ricciardo +0.164s; 4 Bottas +0.774s; 5 Raikkonen +1.135s; 6 Verstappen +1.385s
Vettel is still using softs compared to the other top teams' super-softs, and goes second - just 0.042s off Hamilton. Great lap.

By: Geoff Creighton

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