2009 JAPAN GP: RAINY SUZUKA

Heikki Kovalainen waited until the very last moment of the first free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix to go quickest around a wet-but-drying Suzuka circuit.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time              Laps
1.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:40.356           24
2.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:40.648 + 0.292   18
3.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:40.806 + 0.450   14
4.  Fisichella    Ferrari              (B)  1:40.985 + 0.629   27
5.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:41.421 + 1.065   26
6.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:41.443 + 1.087   15
7.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:41.532 + 1.176   22
8.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:41.577 + 1.221   25
9.  Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:41.821 + 1.465   18
10. Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:42.188 + 1.832   20
11. Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:42.332 + 1.976   10
12. Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:42.475 + 2.119   15
13. Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:42.657 + 2.301   13
14. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:42.667 + 2.311   27
15. Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:42.833 + 2.477   16
16. Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:42.977 + 2.621   14
17. Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:43.218 + 2.862   11
18. Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:43.318 + 2.962   17
19. Kobayashi     Toyota               (B)  1:43.407 + 3.051   16
20. Grosjean      Renault              (B)  1:43.572 + 3.216   22

Force India fastest on rainy Suzuka

Adrian Sutil set the fastest time in a largely pointless soaking wet second free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. The German set a time of 1m47.261s in the final moments of the session, despite running wide at the notorious 130R corner. Second quickest was Sebastian Vettel ahead of the second Force India of Vitantonio Liuzzi.

But the heavy rain and a limited supply of tyres with which to tackle it contributed to an almost total washout of the second 90 minutes.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
1.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:47.261            5
2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.923  + 0.662   6
3.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:47.931  + 0.670   4
4.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.983  + 0.722   5
5.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:48.058  + 0.797   8
6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:48.691  + 1.430   9
7.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:48.693  + 1.432   5
8.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:48.737  + 1.476   6
9.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:48.802  + 1.541  11
10. Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:48.861  + 1.600   6
11. Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:48.886  + 1.625   4
12. Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:49.054  + 1.793   7
13. Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:49.382  + 2.121   7
14. Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:49.405  + 2.144   6
15. Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:49.553  + 2.292   5
16. Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:49.872  + 2.611   7
17. Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:50.179  + 2.918   9
18. Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  No time
19. Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  No time
20. Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  No time