Sebastian Vettel headed Mark Webber in a Red Bull one-two in Friday practice at the Japanese Grand Prix. Vettel, who had been third behind the two Mercedes cars in the first session, outpaced Webber by 0.168 seconds.
Suzuka lived up to its reputation as one of the most difficult tracks in the world, catching out even the best drivers, with Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen all having moments of varying severity.
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was third fastest, 0.262secs off Vettel, and ahead of Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. Lewis Hamilton was sixth and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso 10th after a spin at the Degner corners.
Kimi Raikkonen spun in the middle of the fast Dunlop Curve and beached his Lotus in the gravel during his race-simulation run, while McLaren’s Sergio Perez and Williams’s Pastor Maldonado crashed early in the session, and missed out on their qualifying and race-simulation runs.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m33.852s 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m34.020s +0.168s 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m34.114s +0.262s 4. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m34.202s +0.350s 5. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m34.411s +0.559s 6. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m34.442s +0.590s 7. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m34.473s +0.621s 8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m34.698s +0.846s 9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m34.912s +1.060s 10. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m35.087s +1.235s 11. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.089s +1.237s 12. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m35.109s +1.257s 13. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m35.182s +1.330s 14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m35.275s +1.423s 15. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m35.341s +1.489s 16. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m35.709s +1.857s 17. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m36.136s +2.284s 18. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m36.722s +2.870s 19. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m37.630s +3.778s 20. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m37.905s +4.053s 21. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m38.121s +4.269s