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Russell looks very committed at the exit of Spoon curve. He goes fastest of all in the middle sector and moves up to second, just eight hundredths of a second off Piastri.
There’s the improvement from McLaren – Piastri goes top with a 1’27.991, the fastest time of the weekend so far. Verstappen goes up to sixth, just under seven-tenths of a second off the McLaren.
Ferrari have also improve their best time since yesterday, Charles Leclerc on a 1’28.414, but McLaren are yet to do the same. Expect to see an improvement from them over the final 17 minutes. Verstappen is also heading out on a set of softs so he’s not likely to remain 17th for much longer.
Stroll’s DRS flap is fluttering – we’ve seen this from a few cars this year and it will require some attention.
Jose Manuel Lopez gives his driver some advice on how to improve his lap time at Degner Two: “Opportunity turn nine, focus on exit.” Bortoleto replies: “I know, mate, I almost went off.”
George Russell hits the top of the times with a 1’28.385 which is the fastest time we’ve seen from Mercedes so far this weekend. It puts him top of the times for now, though the McLarens did go slightly faster than that yesterday.
“I feel something is vibrating in the cockpit like something is not on correctly,” reports Lance Stroll.
We’ve not had any further interruptions so far since the red flag for the grass fire almost half an hour ago – sighs of rleief all aorund.
Yuki Tsunoda is just under seven-tenths of a second off the pace so far. Verstappen is plugging away on hard rubber down in 16th place for now.
The times have tightened up at the top. Leclerc just 0.015s off pace-setter Piastri, Norris five hundredths off his team mate.
Fernando Alonso, who looked quick before spinning into a gravel trap yesterday, produces a 1’29.772 for sixth place in the Aston Martin.
The times continue to fall. Piastri gets a cleaner lap in and heads the sheet on a 1’28.768.
The Ferrari drivers displace Norris, Leclerc quickest on a 1’29.107.
Norris produces a 1’29.457 on softs to go fastest while Piastri helps himself to a chunk of gravel at the exit of Degner Two.
Piastri and Verstappen have both been noted for failing to follow the race directors’ instructions, presumably due to overtaking drivers while performing their practice starts.
Lando Norris leads the field out while his team mate Oscar Piastri performs a practice start. He passes the queue while doing so – Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll picked up warnings for doing that yesterday and overtaking others. Max Verstappen does the same and waits for those he moved ahead of to repass him before performing his practice start and pulling away.
The session will restart in just over a minute. Drivers are queueing up waiting to rejoin the track.
The session has been red-flagged after just six minutes and it’s due to another grass fire. This is bad news for F1 as the FIA said yesterday it would take steps to prevent a repeat of these, two of which occured during second practice.
Isack Hadjar heads back into the pits, to the surprise of his team. He says he has a problem in his cockpit which is “quite bad”.
Max Verstappen immediately gets down to business with a 1’30.397 on the hard rubber.
The session is go and the drivers file out quickly, including Jack Doohan in his repaired Alpine.
Third practice for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix is coming up next.
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