Japanese GP: Piastri tops red-flag marred FP2 as Doohan crashes

Suzuka’s second practice session for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix was a rollercoaster of mayhem, with Oscar Piastri steering McLaren to the top of a fractured hour punctuated by four red flags.

The Aussie’s late flyer, a whisker under five hundredths quicker than teammate Lando Norris, capped a McLaren one-two on a day where the track bit back hard.

The chaos erupted early when Jack Doohan’s Alpine pirouetted into disaster at Turn 1. Barreling into the 265kph corner – with DRS open, the car snapped viciously, slamming the outside barrier with a sickening crunch.

• Japanese Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

Debris flew, the A525 crumpled, and the session froze for over 20 minutes as marshals cleared the wreckage. Miraculously, Doohan emerged unscathed, but the battered barrier and car told a grim tale.

Gravel Traps and Grass Fires

Barely back underway, Fernando Alonso added to the drama, skidding off at Degner One after kissing the grass. His Aston Martin beached itself in the gravel, triggering red flag number two.

Then, as the field appeared to finally find its rhythm, a bizarre twist: sparks from a car ignited a dry patch near Degner One, sending flames licking across the grass and halting play again.

Amid the restarts, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar briefly stole the show, topping the times as the leading six cars sat within a tenth.

Norris quashed that uprising with a blistering lap, only for Piastri to edge him out in the dying moments.

Liam Lawson backed Hadjar in fifth, sandwiching Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, while Max Verstappenn, griping about a “non-existent front end” to his engineer, languished in eighth, just behind George Russell and Charles Leclerc.

Late Drama and Alpine Relief

Pierre Gasly salvaged Alpine’s day with ninth after Doohan’s nightmare, while Carlos Sainz nursed a bouncing Williams to 10th.

But the session’s final sting came as the clock wound down – a fourth red flag, sparked by another trackside blaze spreading with alarming ferocity. Organizers now face a fiery headache for the weekend ahead.

Through the smoke and stoppages, Piastri’s poise shone brightest, but Suzuka’s wild Friday hinted at a Grand Prix brimming with unpredictability.

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