Winners and Losers Emerge from Friday Practice at the Japanese GP

Friday practice at Suzuka revealed a mixed grid, with McLaren showing promising pace while reigning champions Red Bull remained mired in the midfield. Ferrari struggled for single-lap speed, and Williams delivered its most competitive Friday showing of the season so far.

Why it matters:

With only the second full practice day of the 2026 season, these sessions offer crucial data on the pecking order. Red Bull's continued struggles signal a potential shift in the competitive landscape, while McLaren's performance is a vital boost for a team needing results after a difficult start. For backmarkers like Williams, any sign of progress is significant for morale and development direction.

The details:

• Red Bull's Struggles Continue: Max Verstappen could only manage 10th in FP2, stating the car lacked balance and grip. The team tried "two opposites" in setup from FP1 to FP2, with neither working, and Verstappen doesn't expect overnight "miracles" with the new RB22.
• McLaren's Promising Pace: Oscar Piastri edged the Mercedes cars to finish second in FP2, showing strong one-lap speed. The gap to the next-best team (Ferrari) was over seven-tenths, boosting McLaren's podium hopes. However, the day was marred for Lando Norris, who lost significant track time to a suspected hydraulic leak, leaving him "two or three steps behind" on setup.
• Ferrari's Soft-Tyre Woes: While competitive on the medium compound, Charles Leclerc and the SF-26 failed to find time on the soft tyres. Leclerc found only two-tenths of improvement between compounds, whereas rivals found nearly a second, indicating a significant underperformance in qualifying trim. Lewis Hamilton suggested the car was losing four-tenths to McLaren just on the run to Turn 1, pointing to potential Energy Recovery System (ERS) deployment issues.
• Williams' Step Forward: Alex Albon finished FP2 in eighth, just over a second off the pace and within six-hundredths of leading the midfield—a marked improvement from earlier races. However, Carlos Sainz labeled the team's long-run pace a "shocker," suggesting race day could still be challenging.
• Mixed Fortunes Elsewhere:
  • Audi: Nico Hulkenberg led the midfield, but teammate Gabriel Bortoleto lost most of the session to a precautionary gearbox change.
  • Alpine: Pierre Gasly complained of a persistent "understeery" car, with the team reverting to its Melbourne form, struggling in Suzuka's high-speed corners.
  • Rookies: Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar was 15th, while Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad missed almost all of FP2, a major setback for his Suzuka learning process.

What's next:

All eyes will be on whether Red Bull can engineer a Saturday turnaround, a feat it has historically mastered but not yet proven with its 2026 car. McLaren must convert Piastri's pace and recover Norris's program to challenge Mercedes. Ferrari needs to unlock its soft-tyre performance to fight at the front, while Williams aims to prove its Friday speed wasn't a fluke in the competitive midfield battle. The true hierarchy will become clear in qualifying.