Ferrari: is the SF-25 better than it looked on track in Suzuka Friday practice?. Ferrari’s goal is to become the second-best team in Japan.

After the first day of track activity at Suzuka, the role of second-best team hasn’t clearly emerged. Ferrari, together with Mercedes and Red Bull, is still in this undefined group, while McLaren currently seems to be a step ahead. In the morning session, Hamilton and Leclerc finished third and fourth, and in the afternoon, Lewis confirmed fourth while Charles Leclerc was seventh. It’s difficult to predict what the Scuderia can aim for, with few laps run on high fuel loads (in the final minutes of FP1), while the planned work on hard tires (at the start of FP2) was interrupted by a lengthy red flag due to Jack Doohan’s crash.

After the second interruption, both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton returned to the track for a qualifying simulation, but were limited to a single flying lap due to a third red flag caused by a grass fire before the Degner Curve.

At that point, the team split the final minutes’ work: Lewis switched back to hard tires and high fuel load, while Leclerc attempted a second flying lap, but this too was interrupted by another red flag. “I’ve had enough of this session,” commented Charles on the radio after improving his time by four hundredths.

The engineers will still have plenty of data to analyze. The new asphalt laid in the first sector confirmed greater grip than expected, and the final setup decision before qualifying will also have to consider the high chance of rain during Sunday’s race.

Both drivers were nevertheless positive about the day’s work. “In the first session the car’s balance wasn’t perfect,” explained Lewis Hamilton, “but we made great progress between the two sessions and I’m satisfied with the direction we’ve taken. There’s still some work to do tonight and, with the weather set to change, we’ll need to stay focused. I think we’re in a good position and I’m curious to see what we can do tomorrow.”

Charles Leclerc was also cautiously optimistic. “It was a constructive day,” the Monegasque driver confirmed. “We tested various setups over the two sessions and I feel I’ve learned a lot about our car and how to get the most out of it. We weren’t able to put everything together due to the red flags and traffic that disrupted the second session, but I believe our performance is better than it looks on paper right now. It’ll be interesting to see how the changing weather conditions, especially the wind direction, affect tomorrow’s sessions.” – the Ferrari man concluded at the end of the second free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix.