The return to command
The FP2 classification of the Japanese GP highlighted the performance of Oscar Piastriauthor of the fastest lap of the session in 1:30.133 ahead of the two Mercedes of Antonelli and Russell. A test that confirmed the good feeling of the McLaren on the Suzuka circuit after FP1, closed behind Mercedes and as the second force on the track, in this case with Piastri behind his teammate Lando Norris.
Not everything at the top
The reigning world champion, however, was less present on the track in FP2 due to a hydraulic leak of the MCL40 which forced him to pit, however completing the session in 4th place after careful repair work by the mechanics of the Woking team which allowed him to return before the checkered flag: “Difficult day, we didn’t do the necessary laps – commented the Briton – at the start of FP2 we weren’t able to do more than one lap at a time, and a lot of the morning was dedicated to aerodynamic work, so the laps we were able to do weren’t very representative. On a track like this, it just takes laps to gain confidence and refine the set-up, and right now we are two or three steps behindwithout long runs and with very few consecutive laps. That said, we ended up putting some things together and learning something, although not as much as we would have liked. We will use the night to reset, analyze the data available to us and try to fix some things so we can do significant laps and get back on track tomorrow.”
Confidence for the next commitments
Piastri’s statements were more positive, however, as he was satisfied with the progress made by the team compared to the last race weekends: “Overall, it was a decent day for us – added the Australian – we felt like we had made good progressespecially in the second free practice session, which was encouraging. The feelings are positive and we have collected valuable data that puts us in a solid position. We know there is still work to do and it is clear that some of our competitors, particularly Mercedes, are very strong. However, the focus is on our performance. We hope to consolidate today’s progress and use this momentum to be even more competitive.”
