JAPAN GP – FRIDAY PRACTICE RESULTS

PRACTICE TWO

Report – Kimi Raikkonen ended the second free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix having set the sixth fastest time of 1.36.529 this afternoon. Fernando Alonso was right behind him with a 1.36.637. The Finn completed 19 laps, while the Spaniard did 26.

Both Ferrari men did their quickest laps on the Medium tyre, which Pirelli has matched this weekend with the Hard. The afternoon saw Kimi and Fernando continue with the work of setting up the car, keen to acquire as much data as possible on a track that has proved yet again to be tricky and difficult to tackle, with several drivers going off the track.

FP2 Times:

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m35.078s	–	28
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1m35.318s	0.240s	27
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m36.279s	1.201s	24
4	Jenson Button	McLaren/Mercedes	1m36.409s	1.331s	28
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull/Renault	1m36.436s	1.358s	24
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m36.529s	1.451s	19
7	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1m36.637s	1.559s	26
8	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren/Mercedes	1m36.714s	1.636s	31
9	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m36.943s	1.865s	27
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m37.186s	2.108s	3
11	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m37.219s	2.141s	19
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m37.504s	2.426s	16
13	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Renault	1m37.563s	2.485s	31
14	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m37.700s	2.622s	18
15	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m37.786s	2.708s	8
16	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Renault	1m37.798s	2.720s	27
17	Adrian Sutil	Sauber/Ferrari	1m38.010s	2.932s	25
18	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber/Ferrari	1m38.365s	3.287s	9
19	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham/Renault	1m39.069s	3.991s	22
20	Jules Bianchi	Marussia/Ferrari	1m39.306s	4.228s	20
21	Max Chilton	Marussia/Ferrari	1m39.333s	4.255s	24
22	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham/Renault	1m42.760s	7.682s	3

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PRACTICE ONE

Report – The Scuderia Ferrari drivers ended the first free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix in third and fifth places. Fernando Alonso did 19 laps of the Suzuka track, the quickest in 1.36.037, while Kimi Raikkonen did one lap less, his best being a 1.37.187.

Both Scuderia drives concentrated on setting up the car in this first session, also starting work on evaluating the Hard Pirelli tyre.

FP1 Times:

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1m35.461s	–	27
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m35.612s	0.151s	26
3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1m36.037s	0.576s	19
4	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m36.576s	1.115s	25
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m37.187s	1.726s	18
6	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren/Mercedes	1m37.327s	1.866s	24
7	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m37.466s	2.005s	27
8	Jenson Button	McLaren/Mercedes	1m37.649s	2.188s	24
9	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull/Renault	1m37.686s	2.225s	26
10	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m37.714s	2.253s	26
11	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m38.012s	2.551s	22
12	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m38.157s	2.696s	22
13	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m38.324s	2.863s	10
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m38.582s	3.121s	9
15	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Renault	1m38.851s	3.390s	21
16	Adrian Sutil	Sauber/Ferrari	1m39.046s	3.585s	19
17	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Renault	1m39.097s	3.636s	26
18	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber/Ferrari	1m39.318s	3.857s	18
19	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham/Renault	1m40.031s	4.570s	18
20	Roberto Merhi	Caterham/Renault	1m41.472s	6.011s	24
21	Jules Bianchi	Marussia/Ferrari	1m41.580s	6.119s	10
22	Max Chilton	Marussia/Ferrari	1m41.757s	6.296s	15

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QUOTES

Kimi Raikkonen: “Today wasn’t easy and the lack of grip from the track surface, especially in the morning, didn’t help. This is a fast and tough track, very demanding for both car and driver. In the first practice session, on the Hard tyres, we concentrated on testing different set-ups aimed at qualifying and the race, then in the afternoon, we made some changes which brought a partial improvement to the handling of the car. But because of the yellow flags and a technical glitch, I only managed to complete just one good run on the Medium tyres. Now we have a full night’s work ahead of us in order to find a set-up that will allow us to get the car to suit any sort of condition.”

Pat Fry: “Suzuka is one of the nicest and most complex circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, with every corner representing a challenge. Therefore it’s very important to find a set-up that gives the drivers as much confidence as possible. In the first session, we worked on the balance of the car, trying to adapt to the low grip levels, while the second session was spoiled by several yellow and red flags and we didn’t manage to make the most of the time available to work on our programme. Suzuka is also one of the most demanding tracks for the tyres, which are put under a lot of pressure by the series of consecutive corners and the heavy lateral loads which never allow for a moment’s rest, from Spoon to the 130R. Today, it’s difficult to assess the order behind the two Mercedes, but we will have to pay very close attention to the weather, because the forecast is changing all the time and at the moment it seems it’s going to play its part.”