Japanese GP: Alonso tops soaking free practice in Suzuka
7th October 2022Alpine’s Fernando Alonso topped the timing board as rain hampered on-track running during F1’s Japanese Grand Prix free practice one, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
How first practice unfolded…
As the pit exit light went green to signal the start of FP1, no one was eager race out onto the Japanese Suzuka Circuit due to the earlier downpour. With just over 55 minutes left on the clock, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was the first driver to venture out onto the soaked track quickly followed by Alpha Tauri’s Japanese driver, Yuki Tsunoda.
Both drivers were equipped with the blue-walled full wet tyres.
Tsunoda and Magnussen soon returned to the pit lane after a handful of reconnaissance laps between the two. Shortly afterwards, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll peered out into circuit for their very own reconnaissance lap.
After 18 minutes, a variety of drivers decided to venture out onto the damp circuit as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz set the first lap times. Ferrari’s championship contender, Leclerc, went to the top of the timing board with a 1:49.104, 0.920 seconds faster than Sainz.
When 30 minutes left on the clock, only 11 drivers had set a lap time on the board. Sainzed jumped above his teammate on the timing board with a 1:47.758 lap, 0.346 seconds ahead of his teammate Leclerc – who was demoted to second, with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in P3.
With 27 minutes left on the clock, Red Bull’s championship leader, Max Verstappen, peeled out onto the Japanese circuit – quickly followed by his teammate, Sergio Perez. However, both drivers the first drivers to venture out with the green-walled intermediate tyres equipped.
On Verstappen’s first lap, the Dutch world champion cleared both Ferrari’s best times and went three-seconds faster than Sainz with a 1:44.059.
Latifi was the first driver to bring out the first yellow flag of the session as the Canadian locked-up into the turn 11 hairpin. Fortunately, the Williams was able to continue on.
18 minutes remained and the rain had reportedly began to fall once again. Despite this, Alonso, Sainz and Leclerc occupied the top three in P1, P2 and P3 respectively. Shortly after, the entire grid had secured a lap time on the board with Mercedes George Russell, Tsunoda and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel in P18, P19 and P20 respectively.
As the rain continued to fall, all of the drivers had returned to the pit lane.
With five minutes left on the timer, both Alfa Romeo’s of Gunayu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas returned to the soaked Suzuka circuit equipped with the full wet tyres. The duo were quickly followed by a handful of drivers but no one was able to improve their lap time as the chequered flag fell on the session.
Fastest three:
- Fernando Alonso, Alpine
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
That’s it for the article; ! Despite the wet conditions, who is your early contender for pole position? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula 1 here:
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- Singapore GP: Leclerc on pole while Verstappen is ordered to pit
- Singapore GP: Leclerc tops FP3 after weather delay
- Singapore GP: Sainz leads 1-2 finish in FP2
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