Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 W06 at Formula One World Championship, Rd14, Japanese Grand Prix, Practice, Suzuka, Japan, Friday 25 September 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Red Bull
Daniil Kvyat, 1m 49.938s, P2/1m 48.277s, P1
Daniel Ricciardo, No time/1m 40.097s, P4
Kvyat was in very strong form in both sessions, pipping the Mercedes to fastest time in the second when he hit a lull in the conditions. Ricciardo sat out the first, but looked reasonably strong in the second.
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg, 1m 50.077s, P3/1m 48.300s, P2
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 50.722s, P5/1m 48.853s, P3
Mercedes did enough to satisfy themselves that there won’t be a repeat of the Singapore issues, and Rosberg looked pretty good all day. The German was using his Monza engine, but will revert to his Singapore unit for the rest of the weekend. Hamilton only went out late in FP1, but was happy enough with his FP2 performance. Both set their FP1 times on wet tyres.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 50.519s, P4/1m 50.268s, P5
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 51.212s, P7/1m 50.319s, P6
Ferrari lacked pace relative to Mercedes and Red Bull, and Vettel made a great save or two in the tricky conditions. Raikkonen had an off at the end of FP1 when he went back out on wets, but was close to Vettel in the afternoon.
Max Verstappen (NDL) Scuderia Toro Rosso STR10 at Formula One World Championship, Rd14, Japanese Grand Prix, Practice, Suzuka, Japan, Friday 25 September 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Toro Rosso
Carlos Sainz, 1m 49.434s, P1/1m 50.418s, P7
Max Verstappen, 1m 50.940s, P6/1m 50.542s, P8
Toro Rosso were the first team to venture out in anger in FP1 and Verstappen immediately went quickest, two seconds up on Sainz. Later the Spaniard improved, however, to set fastest time. Verstappen lost time in the afternoon while his team traced a loose screw, but again Sainz was fractionally faster. Both rookies conducted themselves extremely well in the difficult conditions.
Sauber
Felipe Nasr, 1m 54.013s, P11/1m 50.968s, P9
Marcus Ericsson, 1m 53.820s, P9/1m 51.934s, P13
Both drivers did a lot of running, especially in FP3, and despite several adventures they were respectable in ninth and 13th positions. The main aim was to get them both some valuable learning miles.
Lotus
Romain Grosjean (pm only), 1m 52.534s, P15
Pastor Maldonado, No time/1m 51.557s, P10
Jolyon Palmer (am only), No time
Against the backdrop of problems with a late sea freight delivery, Lotus had a reasonable day. They restricted their drivers to an untimed lap apiece in the morning, which meant Palmer didn’t get a proper run, but Maldonado showed pace in FP2.
Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, No time/1m 51.674s, P11
Sergio Perez, No time/1m 52.070s, P14
Neither driver ran in FP1, but got out in FP2 without looking particularly quick.
Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Williams FW37 at Formula One World Championship, Rd14, Japanese Grand Prix, Practice, Suzuka, Japan, Friday 25 September 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
McLaren
Jenson Button, 1m 55.678s, P12/1m 51.861s, P12
Fernando Alonso, No time/1m 55.239s, P17
Button did an exploratory lap in FP1, Alonso was soon back in the garage having his ICE changed after a problem arose. He won’t get a penalty as a previously used unit was installed for FP2. Button complained bitterly then of understeer and other issues, as the Spaniard focused on putting installation miles on his new (old) power unit.
Williams
Felipe Massa, 1m 52.288s, P8/1m 52.765s, P16
Valtteri Bottas, 1m 53.964s, P10/No time
Williams struggled as the first to run intermediate tyres in FP1, and Massa and Bottas soon wore them out. The Brazilian ran again in FP2, but the Finn elected not to in order to save tyres.
Marussia
Will Stevens, No time/1m 58.059s, P18
Alexander Rossi, No time/1m 59.419s, P19
Manor restricted their drivers to out laps in FP1, then sent them out on different settings to learn the track in FP2.
