Mercedes Dominates Japanese GP Practice

0:00On March 27th, Oscar Piaestry topped the second free practice for the Japanese Grand Prix with a quick lap of 1 minute 30.133. Second, beating Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell by about a tenth. On the heavy fuel-long runs that matter most for race pace, Mercedes pulled away clearly. Antonelli led the pack, averaging 2.5 tenths per lap faster than his teammate Russell, while McLaren dropped back noticeably. Ferrari sits second, but lags Mercedes by around 6 tenths per lap through Charles LeClerc, with Lewis Hamilton struggling more at 1.3. Seconds off. McLaren's Piaestry was 9 tenths behind on average, and Landon Norris skipped a long run due to pitch troubles. Mercedes builds its edge mainly on the straights in sectors 1 and 3, hitting top speeds up to 15 km per hour higher, higher heading to turn. Red Bull faces a tough spot, with Max Perstapp in 1.49 seconds off the leaders, and even behind midfield teams like Haas and Alpine.

1:00In the midfield scrum, Haas and Alpine lead at about 1.35 to 1.37 seconds back, Audi close by, while others trail. Further, Mercedes looks like the weekend favorite across quality and race sims. That's your update from F1 News today, powered by AI.