Lewis Hamilton was the fastest of five drivers to post a time as heavy rain severely disrupted running in Practice 2 at the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday.
As predicted, the weather turned nasty after just holding off in the morning with rain lashing the circuit for much of the break. As a result, the session was reduced to just 45 minutes with rivers and standing water in many places around the undulating layout making exploratory laps in the Safety Car difficult.
Eventually, a brief respite would allow the light to go green and see cars able to take to the track, but with only a small chance of the rain staying until qualifying and a dry race expected, very few took the risk on the sodden track.
Kimi Raikkonen would be the first man out along with Jolyon Palmer as they completed installation laps and a single lap would be what several would do with little point in doing detailed running.
The two Force India’s would be the first to set a lap time, although Esteban Ocon would survive a scare on a river entering Turn 1 as he saved a big slide after aquaplaning. Not long later, Lance Stroll wouldn’t be so lucky as he slid off the track into the gravel trap at the same corner narrowly avoiding contact with the barrier.
As that happened, Hamilton would head out in the Mercedes and set the best time of a 1:48.719s in the two flying laps he completed to lead Ocon by eight-tenths of a second.
The Briton and the Frenchman got the best of the conditions with Sergio Perez 1.8 seconds further back in third and the two Williams’ of Felipe Massa and Stroll completing the times.
With the forecast for the rain to hang around overnight, it will be a case of seeing just how long it lasts and how long it will take to dry out as to whether those who got some more experience of the conditions could benefit on Saturday.