Oscar Piastri topped a chaotic Japanese Grand Prix other exercise in which a huge jack doohan crash caused one of four red flags.
Piastri angled teammate and driver’s championship leader Lando Norris by a half -tenth of a second as McLaren continued their dominance in the early season, but four interruptions allowed cars to be on the track for only 20 of the planned 60 minutes.
Dooohan, who had not run the first practice earlier on Friday when Alpine chose to run the reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa in his homemade instead of the Australian rookie, lost control of his car in the first corner of the high speed and shunted into the barrier and lost two wheels in the process.
The 22-year-old, as Alpine said was “OK” after the session, was helped from the car and there was a delay of approx. 20 minutes when barriers were repaired.
Just seven minutes after the session resumed, the two-time world champion Fernando Alonso highlighted the difficulty of the windy conditions with an uncharacteristic mistake that left Hans Aston Martin stranded in the gravel after a turn at turning 8.
When the rest of the field feverishly tried to get qualifying simulations done, the session was then red again marked due to grass on the side of the track that caught fire from sparks flying from the floors of cars.
There was another short flurry of action that saw Piastri Edge out Norris in a match that seems to run the rest of the weekend before the grass got once in the final stages to trigger a fourth red flag and finish the session.
More to follow …
Sky Sports F1’s Live Japanese GP Plan
Saturday April 5th
- 3.15: Japanese GP -Practice Three (Session starts at 3.30)*
- 06:00: Japanese GP-qualifying structure*
- 07:00: Japanese GP qualification*
- 9:00 pm: Teds qualifying notebook*
Sunday 6 April
- 4.30: Japanese GP building: Grand Prix Sunday*
- 06:00: The Japanese Grand Prix*
- 08:00: Japanese GP -Reafreaf: Routed Flag*
- 9:00 pm: Teds Notebook*
*Also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula is on the iconic Suzuka circuit for the Japanese Grand Prix over the weekend, Live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports With Now – No Contract, Cancel anytime