It was McLaren’s Jenson Button and Red Bull’s Mark Webber who set the early pace during the first and second free practice sessions for the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. The Brit’s initial time of 1:34.507 in FP1 was lowered to a 1:32.493 after Webber’s FP2 efforts.
FP2 saw both Michael Schumacher, who announced his Formula 1 retirement yesterday, and Force India driver Paul Di Resta crash in a similar fashion on turn on the entry to the Spoon Curve.
The closest Ferrari could get was a fifth place for Fernando Alonso in FP2, but was still 0.600 seconds slower than Webber’s time, with teammate Felipe Massa four positions behind in ninth.
The first free practice session meanwhile was trouble-free, with the only exception being Nico Rosberg’s stoppage close to the session’s due to a later-confirmed oil pressure alarm.
First Free Practice Session: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.507s 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.740s + 0.233 3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m34.856s + 0.349 4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m35.059s + 0.552 5. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m35.112s + 0.615 Second Free Practice Session: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m32.493 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m32.707s + 0.214 3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m32.836s + 0.343 4. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m32.987s + 0.494 5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m33.093s + 0.600