Red Bull’s misfortune in Singapore was only a week old, with Max Verstappen taking best times in both Friday’s Formula 1 practice sessions at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The championship leader atoned for the difficult weekend he had at the Marina Bay Circuit by marking the first practice session and was 0.6 seconds ahead of Singapore winner Carlos Sainz with a time of 1 min 31.647 seconds, while Ferrari continued its recent rise by taking second place in the afternoon session.
In the second practice session of the afternoon, Verstappen passed Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari with a time of 1 min 30.688 sec, making a 0.3 s difference. Lando Norris finished in the top three in both sessions, showing that McLaren is a podium candidate at Suzuka.
Verstappen’s efforts were in stark contrast to those of teammate Sergio Perez, who was more than a second behind in both sessions.
story of the day
Lewis Hamilton predicted that Red Bull would be strong before any car had even turned its wheels, said that Verstappen could win Sunday’s race by over 30 seconds, and praised the RB19’s features on a track like Suzuka. The seven-time champion’s early assessment appears to have been proven correct, thanks to Verstappen’s clear advantage in the first practice sessions.
Verstappen went to the top of the standings by putting on the soft tires at the end of practice 1, and then picked up where he left off at the start of practice 2, reaching the top with a new set of soft tyres. Although he was overtaken by Norris and then Leclerc after his first fast lap in FP2, Verstappen came back after the first half hour and set the fastest lap of the weekend, clocking 1m30.688 before the teams’ long lap simulations that usually close out FP2.
At the end of this session, both Ferraris were in the top four. Leclerc’s previous best was good enough for second place, while Sainz fell two tenths behind his teammate. Norris separated the two Ferraris by setting a stronger pace in the first sector with his McLaren compared to the SF-23. Despite having the best time after Verstappen in the opening sector, Norris’s time in the first segment was 0.3s behind the Red Bull driver.
Leclerc became Verstappen’s closest rival on Friday, while Ferrari looked to continue their recent rise
Photo: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
McLaren’s biggest weakness was in the slower corners, particularly the entry into the U-turn and the exit of the Casio Triangle. Although Leclerc also briefly lost time inside the corner, a slower entry allowed the Ferrari driver a faster exit, allowing him to gain more momentum heading into Spoon corner and reverse the delta against the McLaren.
George Russell was fifth fastest, giving Mercedes a glimmer of hope amid tough practice sessions; The team drove in the opening practice session on a track that did not initially provide the expected grip, exploring only a harder set of tyres. In second practice the drivers were a little happier to be able to use the soft tyres, but Hamilton ended the day disappointed with the lack of rear grip present in Mercedes’ first set-up.
Perez struggled with balance throughout practice with Red Bull RB19
Photo: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Data seen by Motorsport.com shows high levels of tire wear in practice, and indications are that the race will be run in two stops, although Russell claims the amount of slip he experienced on the abrasive track surface brought the race “closer to three pit stops”.
Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin trailed Russell by just over a tenth; The AMR23 was not as stable as its rivals through the highly loaded Degner corners and was slower entering the Casio Triangle and in the mid-corner stages – but the Spaniard’s exit was marginally stronger than the cars ahead, which helped narrow the gap.
The use of the prototype C2 tire, which Pirelli stated after Friday’s sessions “did not offer the potential for improvement in terms of the grip they wanted to achieve”, made assessing the overall race pace much more difficult. Additionally, Norris, Russell and Alonso completed their long runs on a soft compound tyre, which is not expected to take part in the race due to excessive degradation.
This is understood to be a result of teams aiming to save on tire sets for the remainder of the weekend, as two pit stops are foreseen for the weekend. The significant degradation of the soft tires over these long laps also makes it difficult to compare which team will prevail in the battle behind Verstappen; However, Leclerc’s overall average of 1m38.190s on medium tires during representative long lap times is comparable to Perez’s average of 1m38.521s – although the Monegasque did three fewer laps overall.
Gap between Red Bull pilots
In one lap, Perez had a 1.022s lead over Verstappen’s best lap in FP2, with two-thirds of that lead coming in the first sector. The Mexican driver complained about stability problems throughout the session, best illustrated by having to briefly apply the brakes to stabilize the car in the middle of the S-bends. Verstappen took a little longer on the brakes at Dunlop Corner, but pressed the accelerator before taking it off to maintain his momentum through the long left-hand bend. In the next phase Verstappen had the balance to minimize the throttle cut to carry more speed towards Degners.
Regardless of Perez’s problems for Red Bull, the usual qualifying has been restored in Japan
Photo: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Although Perez was quicker in the middle of second Degner, he lost two tenths to Verstappen as the Dutchman gained more traction coming out of the corner. Verstappen’s faster entry into the corner created an increase in the delta between them, but as was the fate of Leclerc and Norris, a faster exit from a slower entry helped narrow the gap heading into Spoon. Here Perez braked a little later but pressed the pedal for longer, while Verstappen had more consistent pace through the double-left corner before moving up to 130R.
Both drivers stayed on the throttle throughout the high-speed corner, and Verstappen slowed the car more easily for the right-left Casio Triangle before completing his lap. Regardless, he accelerated further through the chicane, which increased the gap between the Red Bull drivers to over a second, as Perez was able to accelerate much later.
Despite Perez’s stability issues reducing his confidence on the throttle throughout the lap, he still said it would guide the team in their tuning choices for the night.
“Driving at Suzuka is really weird, it’s one of the best circuits in the world but this year it feels like the tarmac is really broken and the cars are sliding over the surface.” George Russell
What did they say
Verstappen: “Yes, I felt really good today. It was again fun to drive from the first lap. And yes, it looks like we had a strong day. In the short laps, in the long laps… there is a lot of degradation on this track, so it will be quite difficult for the tires in the race. But yeah, we’ve had a good start to the weekend so far. Things look a bit tight behind me, Ferrari and McLaren are close, so we’ll have a look. But I think at the end of the day we’re just focusing on ourselves and trying to optimize our performance. If we do that, we’ll be sure to challenge for pole.” I am sure.”
Leclerc: “We seem to be a little bit closer to our rivals than we expected, so overall it was a pretty positive day. From my perspective, we tried a few different things on the car to make me a little more comfortable, which was good. I can’t wait to confirm that feeling tomorrow.”
Russell: “It’s been a semi-decent day to be honest. Red Bull are back to normal, which I don’t think is a big surprise. They look very, very fast for many. We’re not too far away from P2. I think there’s a difference of two to ten. So between Ferrari and Lando It’s going to be a good fight. But at the same time, there are cars like Alex, as you often see in qualifying. There seems to be a lot of tire wear. The situation at Suzuka is really strange, it’s one of the best circuits in the world, but this year the tarmac seems to have really deteriorated and the cars “It’s sliding over the surface. That gives all the drivers on the track a slightly strange feeling and that’s what contributes to the wear of the tyres.”
Is there anyone who can compete against Verstappen and Red Bull at Suzuka?
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
2023-09-22 17:50:19
#Japanese #Lessons #learned #Friday #practice
