Suzuka International Racing Course, Friday 7 October

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and Executive Director, Racing, Andrea Stella after practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

FP1	1m43.889s (+1.641s)	7 laps	8th
FP2	1m45.885s (+3.950s)	11 laps	16th

“While conditions were pretty challenging today, the laps we did were useful. We are struggling for pace a little bit, so we have some work to do overnight. However, tomorrow is expected to be dry and Suzuka will be a very different place, so we’ll work hard to get ready for FP3 and set ourselves up for quali and the race.”

FP1	1m44.486s (+2.238s)	8 laps	12th
FP2	1m46.030s (+4.095s)	9 laps	17th

“Arigato! Alright, it was fun to be back on this track. Conditions were slippery but it was actually a good time, I enjoyed it. In the morning we weren’t looking too bad for the most part. It was only a few laps, but I felt relatively comfortable in the car. This afternoon, I would say there was a little less pace but it’s really tricky with tyres. You don’t know what people are doing and it’s hard to get a real read on it. We probably have a little bit of pace to find from this afternoon’s session – but tomorrow looks dry so that’s going to be completely different again, and then we’re not sure what Sunday’s going to be yet! I think it’s still useful for us, the learning we did, and we'll try to improve a few things for tomorrow – but overall, really happy to be back on the track.”

ANDREA STELLA, Executive Director, Racing

“Today we had limited running due to the wet conditions, which also meant the Pirelli dry tyre test planned for FP2 was cancelled. We could still gather useful information on both the Wet and Intermediate tyres. We couldn’t run as much as we normally do in dry Friday practice sessions because Wet or Intermediate tyres may be needed on Sunday when there is a chance of rain. This track is also quite aggressive on tyres even in wet conditions.

“We expect tomorrow to be dry, so the work to set up the car will be more based on simulations and experience than on the actual data gained on Friday, which is an interesting challenge, but it is the same for everyone. Hopefully, we can use FP3 efficiently and get some good preparation for qualifying and the race.”

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