Free Practice 2: Lewis and Charles fourth and seventh in a messy session

In what was a messy second free practice session for everyone at the Japanese Grand Prix with no fewer than three red flags, the Scuderia Ferrari HP duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished fourth and seventh fastest.

28 laps.  Lewis and Charles started this afternoon’s work on the Hard tyre, the Englishman posting a 1’29”950 and the Monegasque a 1’31”302, before Jack Doohan brought out the first red flag, crashing heavily at Turn 1 in the Alpine. The track reopened after a 20 minute break while the barriers were repaired.

At the restart, Charles posted a 1’30”208, but then came another red flag when Fernando Alonso ended up in the gravel at Degner Curve. When the pit lane light returned to green, Hamilton and Leclerc went back out on Hard tyres setting times of 1’28”544 and 1’28”617 respectively. Immediately after, came another red flag, this time because the grass caught fire at the exit to turn 9. With just seven minutes remaining, the action resumed with Leclerc on used Softs and Hamilton on Hards with a heavier fuel load. Charles now improved to 1’28”586 before another grass fire brought the session to a close. The Ferrari pair completed 14 laps each.