F1 Today | Verstappen quickest in free practice, Sargeant crashes
General
It was an eventful, yet not so eventful day in Japan. Friday at the Suzuka Circuit was chaotic in many ways. First, Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams in FP1, then there wasn’t much action on the track in FP2 due to the poor weather conditions. However, one thing remained the same: Verstappen was the quickest on Day 1 in Japan.
Verstappen and Piastri top FP1 and FP2 respectively
Max Verstappen set the fastest lap in FP1, with a 1:30.056 and finished ahead of his teammate, Sergio Perez. It was also a positive day for Ferrari and Mercedes for different reasons. Ferrari’s long run seemed powerful, and Mercedes ranked higher than expected.
Oscar Piastri finished in P1 in the second practice session, which was cut short because of the rain. Only five drivers set lap times in this session, Oscar Piastri’s fastest lap time was a 1:34.725. Hamilton and Leclerc rounded off the Top 3 during the afternoon in Japan.
Sargeant crashes in FP1, chassis in question again
After sitting behind the steering wheel of the Williams again for the first time since Logan Sargeant had to skip the Australian Grand Prix, the American driver immediately crashed his car. Sargeant put his right rear tyre on the grass, and lost control over his car, but fortunately for him, the chassis seemed to be alright. However, Ralf Schumacher believes Sargeant only has a race-to-race long contract and he could be removed from the team at any moment.
James Vowles had to appear at the team principals' press conference after the session, where he assured everyone that he has his driver’s back and stayed in touch with him over the last couple of weeks. It was also revealed that Haas have a spare chassis, but Alpine do not have one.
Horner believes it's guaranteed that Verstappen will stay
In Japan, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner also said that he believes it is a 100% certain that Max Verstappen will remain at the team. You can read our exclusive piece on this question here.