Piastri warns about rivals pace in Suzuka: 'They look very quick'

10:38, 04 Apr

byKada Sarkozi

After a chaotic FP2, it was Oscar Piastri who set the fastest time in Friday's second session. The Australian was 0.049 seconds faster than his teammate Lando Norris.

In a session with four red flags, driver had little time to complete their runs. Nevertheless, Oscar Piastri topped the scoresheet this afternoon local time in Japan, just ahead of Lando Norris.

Afterwards, the Australian explained he had a tough time because of the combination of track conditions and the nature of session.

"I think with the part of the track being resurfaced and very gusty winds, it's been a challenge around here. It's somewhere where the wind really changes the the balance a lot, and when it's gusty like this, I don't think you have the same car two laps in a row," he began to F1 TV.

"FP2 was pretty stop-start, so it was hard to get into a rhythm, but I think by the end of the day I felt reasonably comfortable. Still some, some fine tuning to go. I think there's been some things I've been happy with today, but, it's not been the easiest overall," the McLaren driver continued his verdict.

Are McLaren the favourites in Japan?

So far, together with a McLaren one-two finish in FP2, Norris also set the fastest time in FP1. However, after the Friday at Suzuka, Piastri remained cautious when talking about where do the Woking-based team stand at the moment. He also named one team in particular that looked strong.

"I think FP1 was difficult to get pace out of the car. I think FP2 I was much more comfortable, but Mercedes looked very quick as well, just didn't find much on the softs which, which I think with this kind of session, it's always a bit tricky to get a proper read. The pace is there and I'm feeling confident that we've got good pace for the rest of the weekend, but, it's still a little bit tricky at this point, so, I think we've still got to be on our toes," the Australian concluded.

This article was written in collaboration with Mitchel van der Hoef