The Latest Breaking News from FP2

After a challenging start to the campaign where Mercedes has struggled with its W15, duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton ended up fourth and fifth quickest respectively in Suzuka’s morning free practice session, which offered the only representative running with FP2 taking place in damp conditions.

Rain started sporadically falling in the paddock with under an hour to go ahead of FP2’s 3pm local time commencement, but this intensified with 15 minutes to go.

Three-time world champion Verstappen was fastest in Free Practice 1, by 0.095s from Alex Albon’s Williams, and also paced FP2 with a fastest time of 1m18.686s.

Having dominated the opening practice at Assen on Friday morning, Bezzecchi carried that form into the hour-long afternoon session to lead Pramac’s Jorge Martin by 0.130 seconds.

And, while it is still early in the weekend, Valtteri Bottas’ eighth place slot in FP2 has at least offered an early indication that its changes could have shifted it up a gear in the ultra-tight midfield battle.

The Friday practice bragging rights ahead of Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix belonged to Max Verstappen, who headed FP2 while FP1 chart-topper Carlos Sainz crashed in the second session.

Verstappen was fastest in both FP1, held in daylight, and FP2, which was held in darkness and was closer to conditions for both qualifying and the race.

Verstappen was fastest in both FP1, held in daylight, and FP2, which was held in darkness and was closer to conditions for both qualifying and the race.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso beat Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to the top spot in second practice for Formula 1’s 2023 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.