Daniil Kvyat ended the second free practice session with the quickest time as rain continued to affect the running around Suzuka on Friday.
The Infiniti Red Bull Racing driver took advantage of the better conditions early in the session to set a time of 1m48.277s, before the rain began to fall heavier again, which meant improvements were not forthcoming.
The Russian’s time was enough to knock Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver Nico Rosberg down into second by just 0.023s, while championship leader Lewis Hamilton ended up third quickest, more than half a second adrift of pacesetter Kvyat.
Daniel Ricciardo was the only other driver to set a time below the 1m50s barrier in fourth in the second Red Bull, while Scuderia Ferrari duo Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth.
After topping the earlier session in the day, Carlos Sainz Jr was seventh for Scuderia Toro Rosso ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen, while Felipe Nasr of Sauber and Pastor Maldonado of Lotus completed the top ten.
Fernando Alonso spent the first part of the session in the pits while McLaren changed his Honda engine, although this will not incur a penalty for the Spaniard as he reverting to an engine already used this season. The time lost meant Alonso did not get a time in before the heavier rain fell, meaning he finished down in seventeenth, ahead of only the Manor F1 Team drivers and Valtteri Bottas, who did not go on track all session in his Williams.
Suzuka Free Practice 2 Times
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