Oscar Piastri topped an all but meaningless rain-affected second practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix in which only five drivers set representative times.

Rain doused the track in the lead-up to the final hour of practice on Friday, leaving the Suzuka Circuit damp and slippery when pit lane opened. It took 12 minutes for the first car to sample the conditions, with Lewis Hamilton taking to the circuit on a set of medium tires.

The track was drying slowly in the chilly sub-60-degree F temperatures, but rain re-appeared on the radar just as Hamilton prepared to set his first flying lap, and he was recalled to pit lane with only two slow tours completed.

The return of light precipitation kept the track too wet for slicks for the bulk of the session, but a flurry of laps at the half-hour mark suggested it was also awkwardly too dry for intermediate tires too, sending most of the drivers back to their garages without a time.

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The RB teammates were the only exceptions, with Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo setting five and six laps respectively. The track time was particularly valuable for Ricciardo, who sat out FP1 to give Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa his first F1 weekend appearance.

It took until the final 10 minutes of the hour for drivers to sample the slicks a second time. Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg both reported that conditions remained too wet and returned to their garages.

Piastri, however, had the confidence to push, reeling off a series of push laps on fresh soft tires to set the benchmark at 1m34.725, fully 4.669s slower than Max Verstappen’s leading dry time in FP1.

Hamilton subsequently set one flying lap on softs as the checkered flag flew, and he slotted in 0.501s behind Piastri, with Charles Leclerc completing the top three for slick runners.

Tsunoda and Ricciardo ended the session fourth and fifth respectively with times set on intermediate tires.

Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu, Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen set late but unrepresentative times to partake in practice starts on the grid after the flag.

Verstappen, Sergio Perez, George Russell, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly didn’t leave their garages throughout the session.

Logan Sargeant was ironically the big winner from the damp hour, having been forced to skip the session anyway owing to damage picked up during FP1 earlier in the day.

Sargeant’s Williams sustained heavy damage that would take the rest of the day to rectify, though the team said his chassis — freshly repaired after Albon’s crash in Australia — was undamaged.

RESULTS:

The majority of teams have introduced new parts as the development race really kicks into gear at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Red Bull has a significant number of upgrades around the most performance-related areas of its car as it updates its sidepod inlet — further improving aerodynamic performance downstream — and the floor to increase load. There are also smaller inlet and exit ducts for the front brakes, with low temperatures in Suzuka.

There are no new parts at Mercedes, but Ferrari has brought a version of its 2023 rear wing to be able to adapt the load levels in the case of potential rain on Sunday, as well as a fairing update to the rear suspension that brings a small efficiency increase.

McLaren only has a similar front brake duct tweak to that at Red Bull, but Aston Martin has a wide range of developments that focus mainly on the floor. An evolution of the floor body is introduced in tandem with upgraded floor fences and a change to the floor edge that all improve the local load. The diffuser shape has also been modified to improve flow characteristics and load, while bodywork changes to the engine cover and beam wing all work in conjunction with the floor upgrade.

Aston’s upgrade is expected to be run by Lance Stroll on Friday, with Fernando Alonso set to receive the update on Saturday once a second set of new parts arrives in Japan.

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At Alpine, there is a new front wing with less drag, leading to an associated change to the front brake ducts, and an updated beam wing that is intended to increase the load to the floor.

Williams still doesn’t have a spare chassis but has been able to bring some new parts to Suzuka, with a front wing endplate change having an impact on the overall downforce of the car as well as the way it is utilized. The other submissions are circuit-specific, as Williams aims to reduce downforce and drag with its rear wing and beam wing options.

RB’s upgrades focus solely on the floor body and floor edge, with reprofiling of the underfloor and floor fences increasing downforce, and the team is understood to have multiple new versions in case of damage during the weekend, while Stake Sauber has also redesigned its floor and edges.

Like Mercedes, Haas does not have any new parts this weekend at Suzuka, but is aiming to bring its first updates to the next round in China.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez topped first practice at the Japanese Grand Prix after a crash for Logan Sargeant lost teams more than 10 minutes of track time halfway through the session.

Sargeant, who is driving the freshly repaired Williams chassis that teammate Alex Albon crashed two weeks ago in Australia, spun off the track through the long left-handed Dunlop Curve linking the esses and the Degner corners.

The American Formula 1 sophomore understeered wide and dipped his right-hand tires onto the grass. Refusing to lift, his car spun off the road, briefly took to the air over the stones and whacked into the barriers. Sargeant walked away from the wreckage unscathed.

Damage was focused on the front of the car, which was craned back to pit lane for repair work. Williams is still without a spare chassis this weekend, with the arrival date for its third tub now pushed back to the Miami Grand Prix owing to repairs required following Albon’s Melbourne crash.

The session was suspended for around 11 minutes, with some soft tire running resuming once the pit lane reopened with 19 minutes remaining.

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Verstappen seized the moment to put himself at the top of the order with a set of softs, setting a best time of 1m30.056s. Teammate Perez was close behind, his best lap just 0.181s off the pace. Carlos Sainz, winner of the preceding Australian Grand Prix, ended 0.213s adrift.

All three were comfortably faster than last year’s best Friday times, speaking to the significantly cooler weather conditions of the race’s new April date, with the air temperature just 61 degrees F and the track only a little warmer, at 73 degrees F.

The hour-long session resultantly saw all three tire compounds in use, with Sunday’s race expected to be less taxing on the rubber than in previous races, changing the strategic picture.

Mercedes teammate George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were closely matched in fourth and fifth — Hamilton with a new power unit after his mid-race failure in Australia — but both more than 0.25s slower than Sainz and almost half a second off Verstappen’s leading time, while Charles Leclerc pipped Fernando Alonso for sixth and seventh.

McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris sandwiched RB’s Yuki Tsunoda to complete the top 10 ahead of Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon.

Nico Hulkenberg was shown a black-and-white bad sportsmanship flag for crossing the white line at pit exit early in the session, which he completed in 13th for Haas ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

Lance Stroll suffered an early failure of his aero rake device testing Aston Martin’s new bodywork, forcing him back to pit lane for repairs. He ended the session 15th.

Red Bull and Honda junior Ayumu Iwasa commandeered Daniel Ricciardo’s RB for one of the team’s mandatory rookie practice outings, completing an all-Japanese line-up for the Italian team.

The 22-year-old Super Formula regular was 16th quickest, beating Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen and the crashed-out Sargeant in the finishing order.