Hamilton tops rain soaked second practice session

The first day in Japan ended as a wash out with only five drivers taking to the Japanese circuit in the rain soaked second ninety minute practice session. In the sunny first session, Sebastian Vettel was at the top of the timesheets, however the Ferrari driver didn't set a time in session two and it was the man who was second fastest in the morning, Lewis Hamilton, who topped the timesheets at the end of the day.

Lewis's teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who was fifth fastest in the morning session, didn't venture out in FP2 as he opted to stay in the garage and out of the rain.

“The weather forecasts for today were actually pretty unpromising from quite a long way out,” said Mercedes James Allison. “ We weren't expecting much useful running at all in either of the sessions. So it was something of a blessing when we managed to get a largely dry FP1. We focused all our programme around trying to get as much race preparation as we could into that single programme.”

“Although that may be an unusual session, it was actually quite a good one. Both cars getting their laps done, getting a feel for the car on high and low fuel and we were reasonably pleased with the initial balance and performance that the car is showing. Obviously after losing all of FP2 the rest of the weekend is still going to be something of a scramble, but at least we go into tomorrow knowing how we ought to set the car up for both qualifying and race.”

As drivers sailed paper boats down the rivers in pit lane, much like the Austin race a few years ago, dedicated fans huddled under umbrellas and rain coats waiting for their hero's to appear. Sadly, they will have to wait until tomorrow for the next, hopefully, dry session.

With cars only allowed on track for just 45 minutes, the times are by no means representative…