Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri recalled another recall of their superiority over their rivals in training Friday before the Japanese Grand Prix of this weekend.
But despite their impressive performance on the time leaves, the two McLaren drivers admitted that it was far from a breeze during a chaotic day at the Rafale in Suzuka.
Norris was the fastest first training before Piastri managed to reconstruct the best tour of the field during a second highly disturbed session of the day.
In fact, the red flag was shown four times during the second one hour racing period. First after the horrible accident of 185 MPH of Jack Doohan – from which he left unscathed – then when Fernando Alonso failed his car and finally after dry and grassy areas around the track, shed light on twice.
Although the lack of action on track during the second session made it difficult to assess the place where the teams are, Norris left the paddock last night encouraged by his efforts.
“We are in a good position,” he told Sky Sports. “It is delicate because of the wind, it makes a big difference especially on a circuit like this. You are on such a beautiful limit for a long time. The smallest wind can upset the car a lot.
Lando Norris (left) and Oscar Piastri (right) gave another recall of their superiority over their rivals in practice Friday
Lando Norris was the fastest during the first training session Friday in Suzuka before the Japanese Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton is unlikely to be one of those who push Norris and McLaren during this weekend race
“I always feel good, I feel like we are in a reasonable place. We took steps forward, but still things to try to improve for tomorrow.
“I always expect it to be close and a tight battle tomorrow. I hope this is not the case. I hope it’s nice and easy, but I’m sure Mercedes at least, certainly George (Russell) of today’s projections, will challenge us tomorrow.
Lewis Hamilton is unlikely to be one of those who push Norris and McLaren during this weekend race. But despite conceding his Ferrari was not one of the fastest cars of this emblematic circuit, Hamilton was enthusiastic by his performance.
“It was a very nice day. This song is great, “said the seven times world champion.
“The sessions went well. A little worrying to see the crash around 1, happy to see that it (Doohan) is ok.
“We have gone through the whole program, we have obtained the performance that we have to pick up. We are not the fastest right now, but I think it’s a good basic base.