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Valtteri Bottas has ended the opening practice session from the Japanese Grand Prix weekend on top of the timesheets, less than a tenth ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
The session remained untouched by rain, as confirmation came prior to the green flag that Saturday's activities have been cancelled in anticipation of Typhoon Hagibis.
With the weekend shortened to two sessions, the second outing later today is expected to be busier than normal, as the teams will have more tyres to play with.
Following the two Mercedes' in the standings was the Ferrari duo, with Sebastian Vettel marginally heading his teammate Charles Leclerc.
The two-by-two followed in fifth and sixth, as Max Verstappen ended up in front his Red Bull partner Alexander Albon, three-tenths of a second separating the two.
Naoki Yamamoto made his Formula 1 debut with Toro Rosso, setting 30 laps in Pierre Gasly's car and ending the session in 17th, one-tenth behind Daniil Kvyat.
Carlos Sainz was 'best of the rest' as he was seventh in the timesheets, however his session wasn't smooth as his car had issues moments after leaving the pits, forcing him to park up and make his way back to the garage on foot.
Antonio Giovinazzi also had a troublesome session, setting just 4 laps before an issue was uncovered on his car. The Italian failed to make it back out onto the circuit and concluded the session at the bottom of the standings.
Sergio Perez was eighth for Racing Point, in front of teammate Lance Stroll, while Lando Norris rounded out the top ten in the second McLaren.
Circuit Suzuka - 11 October 2019
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
2 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (3)
Login to replyabhidbgt
Posts: 283
It's like Hamilton said about Ferrari these upgrades that Merrcedes brought to Japan have added jets onto that Mercedes they were faster on straights (outright straightline speed) and they have always been quicker in the corners this year. Still a long way to go but they do look ominous. Times change fast in F1 and that's also one of the charms of F1.
:D
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
great effort by yamamoto, nice to see him there
xoya
Posts: 583
Wow! A guy with no experience is faster than Kubica and Russell in Williams car. Dark times.