SUZUKA: Valtteri Bottas led the second and final practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix on Friday, edging team-mate Lewis Hamilton in what could be the starting grid for Sunday’s typhoon-hit Formula One race.

Organisers canceled Saturday’s usual qualifying session with Typhoon Hagibis set to hit Japan’s main island on Saturday and Sunday. Plans call for the race to be run as scheduled on Sunday at 2 pm, with qualifying held earlier in the day.

“The FIA and Formula One support this decision in the interest of safety for the spectators, competitors and everyone at the Suzuka Circuit,” organisers said in a statement.

If Sunday’s qualifying session is cancelled, the second practice session will become a pivotal one. Race stewards can use the classification from the second practice for Sunday’s grid positions.

Rain was predicted on Friday at the 5.807-kilometre Suzuka circuit but both practices sessions were run in dry conditions.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel led early but Bottas survived a slow speed spin earlier in the session and clocked a time of 1 minute, 27.785 seconds, 0.100 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

“We tried to do everything we could today in the session and prioritise,” Bottas said. “We tried to be efficient with the time and I think we did the job. There is a lot of work to be done to analyse everything before the qualifying for Sunday morning, if it happens.”

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was third, followed by the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Vettel. lexander Albon was sixth for Red Bull ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Racing Point’s Sergio Perez.

Pierre Gasly, who gave up his seat in the opening session so Naoki Yamamoto could drive his Honda-powered Toro Rosso in front of his home crowd, was ninth. McLaren’s British rookie Lando Norris rounded out the top 10.

Mercedes, who have won every race at Suzuka going back to 2014, can seal a record-equalling sixth successive Formula One constructors championship on Sunday by scoring 14 more points than Ferrari.

A win for Hamilton on Sunday would leave only Bottas, who lies 73 points behind, able to catch him in the drivers’ standings with just four races to come after Japan.

It would also put the Englishman in line to wrap up a sixth drivers’ title, a feat only previously achieved by Michael Schumacher, and third world title in a row at Mexico later this month.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2019