McLaren driver Oscar Piastri was quickest in a rain-affected second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.Photo: Hiro Komae/AP McLaren driver Oscar Piastri was quickest in a rain-affected second practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.Photo: Hiro Komae/AP 
Second practice for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix proved to be a damp squib as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri set the fastest time on a weather-affected session. (More Motosport News)
Local favourite Yuki Tsunoda and his RB team-mate Daniel Ricciardo were the only drivers to set lap times early on in changeable conditions, but set their times on the intermediate tyre.
The hour-long session began in rain and, although it later stopped, the track was not deemed sufficiently dry enough for most teams to send out their cars
Japanese Grand Prix, 1st Practice: Red Bull's Max Verstappen Sets The Pace In Suzuka An unusual FP2. Very limited running due to on-track conditions, but Oscar put together the quickest lap time of them all. 💪#JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/96NmaXLayY
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 5, 2024Piastri was one of them and his time of one minute 34.725 seconds proved fast enough to top the timesheets, with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari the only others to set representative times.
Earlier, Max Verstappen set the pace in first practice as Willams endured another Friday to forget.
Reigning champion Verstappen retired in Melbourne a fortnight ago but was back at it here, his time of one minute 20.056 seconds was enough to see him go quickest at Suzuka, with team-mate Sergio Perez his closest challenger 0.181 seconds back.
Bit rainy out on track isn't it? ☔️ #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/SQGdFV6g8B
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 5, 2024A red flag halfway through the session stopped running for 11 minutes as Logan Sargeant crashed off at turn two – further adding to the Williams woes.
Lewis Hamilton Thinks Sebastian Vettel Could Be Good Fit For Mercedes Sargeant sat out the Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago as team-mate Alex Albon took his car after destroying his own in a practice crash and the team currently have no spare chassis.
Williams team principal James Vowles confirmed the car had suffered “extensive” damage and Sargeant was forced to sit out of second practice – although the lack of running meant there was little that would have been gained from taking part.
“It is pretty significant (damage). So the chassis is OK, fortunately, but I would say pretty much everything else isn’t – so the suspension around, the gearbox is cracked, big damage.
FP1 was temporarily red-flagged after this Logan Sargeant crash #F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/dPN5ek6CBl
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 5, 2024“At the top of the brow of the hill there, he struggled to see where his positioning was on track. So it fundamentally looks like he didn’t quite realise where he was with where the grass was on the outside and put a wheel on the grass.”
Albon went 12th fastest after the action restarted, while Verstappen assumed his usual position as the car to beat.
Carlos Sainzlcc, who won in Australia last time out, was third-fastest for Ferrari ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Hamilton, while the second Ferrari of Leclerc was sixth.