What happened in second practice at F1's Japanese GP
Oscar Piastri set the pace in second practice for Formula 1's 2026 Japanese Grand Prix, as McLaren edged ahead of Mercedes.
Piastri’s best lap of 1m30.133s on the soft compound tyre was 1.5s quicker than George Russell managed in FP1 and was enough to give McLaren top spot in FP2 by 0.092s from Russell’s Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli in FP2 at Suzuka.
Russell completed a Mercedes 2-3, 0.113s down on Antonelli.
Reigning world champion Lando Norris missed most of the session as McLaren investigated a suspected hydraulic leak on his car.
His first flying lap on medium tyres, way out of synch with the rest, was enough to place him sixth overall, just under half a second down on Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari.
Using the soft tyre while others completed race runs on harder compounds, Norris then improved to a 1m30.649s to end the session fourth, ahead of both Ferraris.
Ferrari led the way after the early medium-tyre running, with Charles Leclerc almost half a tenth up on Piastri, but the qualifying simulation laps on soft tyres were messy and relegated Leclerc to fifth, 0.733s off the pace.
Team-mate Hamilton was a tenth further back in fifth, the last driver to lap below 1m31s in FP2.
That feat of Norris on the medium tyre, considering his lack of track time earlier in the session, showed the huge void that exists here between the top three teams and the rest, including Red Bull - which, as in China, appears relegated to midfield pace.
Max Verstappen was only 10th fastest, almost 1.4s off the outright pace and beaten by Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi, Alex Albon’s Williams and Ollie Bearman’s Haas.
Verstappen’s team-mate Isack Hadjar was only 15th, 0.25s down on Verstappen and behind Esteban Ocon’s Haas, Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls, Carlos Sainz’s Williams and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.
That midfield group was at least closely matched, with only 0.318s covering those nine drivers.
Franco Colapinto was a big chunk further back in 17th, almost a full seven tenths adrift off Hadjar’s Red Bull, and into the gap between them eventually slotted the Gabriel Bortoleto Audi, another to spend most of the session in the garage after his team elected to make a precautionary gearbox change.
Colapinto is also in trouble with the stewards for weaving into Verstappen’s path approaching 130R, although that corner now being an obvious super-clipping deceleration zone might act as mitigation there.
In the battle at the back between Cadillac and Aston Martin-Honda, Valtteri Bottas led the way with a time almost a full second clear of Fernando Alonso, who was getting up to speed after missing FP1 owing to the birth of his first child.
That best Cadillac lap was also within two tenths of what Colapinto managed.
Sergio Perez, in the second Cadillac, was less than a tenth down on Alonso, despite completing not much more than half the number of laps the Aston Martin driver managed.
Lance Stroll was the slowest of the 21 drivers to set a time as Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad failed to register a timed lap after losing most of his session to a suspected gearbox problem.
FP2 results
1 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1m30.133s
2 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.092s
3 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.205s
4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.516s
5 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.713s
6 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.847s
7 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.308s
8 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.363s
9 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.365s
10 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +1.376s
11 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.399s
12 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.457s
13 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.475s
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.601s
15 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.626s
16 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.939s
17 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +2.305s
18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.482s
19 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.463s
20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.556s
21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +3.818s
22 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) No time
