Japanese GP Friday practice
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By: Geoff Creighton
Summary
Status: Stopped
Driver, Team
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Valterri Bottas, Mercedes
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
Esteban Ocon, Force India
Romain Grosjean, Haas
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Valterri Bottas, Mercedes
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
Esteban Ocon, Force India
Romain Grosjean, Haas
Here's our full report from FP2. Thanks for joining us in the early hours of Friday morning - we'll have all the reaction to today's sessions throughout the day on Autosport and Motorsport.com. Join us again tomorrow morning from 4am BST for coverage of final Japanese Grand Prix practice and qualifying. 
Japanese GP: Lewis Hamilton fastest again in second Friday practice
Lewis Hamilton dominated Friday's second Formula 1 free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix
Final FP2 order: 1 Hamilton; 2 Bottas; 3 Vettel; 4 Verstappen; 5 Raikkonen; 6 Ricciardo; 7 Ocon; 8 Grosjean; 9 Ericsson; 10 Hartley; 11 Perez; 12 Hulkenberg; 13 Gasly; 14 Sainz; 15 Leclerc; 16 Magnussen; 17 Alonso; 18 Sirotkin; 19 Stroll; 20 Vandoorne.
Another session topped for Hamilton, and another 1-2 for Mercedes. Things are already starting to look a little ominous.
"Check the floor please, I went over the kerb coming out of Turn 9," says Sirotkin, who asks Williams if it wants him to pit (it does).
Alonso is on the longest stint of all at the moment, having completed 15 laps on his current set of softs.
Everyone out on track now except for Hartley and Magnussen. Ocon and Grosjean - as previously reported - are on mediums, as are Sainz, Leclerc and Sirotkin.
"Try not to damage your tyres in sector one and pick your place later in the lap," Verstappen, now on softs like all of the top six cars, is told.
"Blister on the rear left, and the rear right," Vettel reports. Onboards looking at the rear of the Ferrari confirm those tyres look pretty second hand.
Good news for Toro Rosso: Gasly heads out on a set of supersofts with 15 minutes of the session remaining.
Ricciardo, Vandoorne and Gasly - who still hasn't been able to head out - are the only drivers not out on track yet.
"Tyre saving in sector 1, Turn 8 and Turn 13," Vettel is asked.
He replies saying "Turn 8 and 13 are not in sector one" but is then told he needs to save throughout the first sector and in the other corners.
He replies saying "Turn 8 and 13 are not in sector one" but is then told he needs to save throughout the first sector and in the other corners.
Times look pretty tight at the sharp end of the midfield battle right now. The most recent laps for Ocon, Grosjean, Ericsson and Hartley - who are seventh to 10th and representing four different teams - were separated by less than a tenth.
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Verstappen is going to head back to the pits to have two degrees take off his front wing. He's not quite comfortable with the car at the moment.
Supersofts are a pretty universal choice for these first runs. Only Raikkonen, Hartley and Alonso are on the softs right now.
Verstappen is immediately four tenths faster than team-mate Ricciardo, although the Australian has started to chip away at his fastest time on this run. Vettel has also started his long run.
Ocon's first time is a 1m34.954s, which looks decent in the context of Ricciardo's first supersoft laps.
Hulkenberg is told "this is a good run so far" even though Renault has nothing representative to compare it to yet.
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