Oscar Piastri from Australia took the lead in the second free practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix for McLaren. The session was affected by rain, resulting in limited track time. In the final moments, Piastri brought his MCL38 car to the front with a time of 1:36.862s on soft tires. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc closely followed, completing the top three positions. The rain caused teams to hesitate in sending their cars out on track, as the conditions were too cold and wet for slick tires, but not wet enough for intermediates. It took 15 minutes for the first car to appear on track. Mercedes, with Hamilton driving on medium compounds, was the first to brave the conditions, but Hamilton returned to the pits after just one installation lap. Daniel Ricciardo, who had missed the opening session, also returned to the track along with Yuki Tsunoda. The two drivers ended up at the top of the timing sheet, with Tsunoda clocking a time of 1:40.946s. Piastri, the Sauber drivers, and Alex Albon in the Williams car also ventured out on track. However, only the Red Bull drivers posted lap times, as the other drivers did not complete a timed lap. Sauber attempted to send both cars out on track in the final 10 minutes on hard compounds, but they drove slowly and returned to the pits. Haas tried to use the softer tires brought by Pirelli for the Suzuka race, but the temperature was too low for the tires to work optimally. Eventually, track conditions improved, allowing several drivers to complete timed laps at the end on slick tires. Piastri surpassed Tsunoda’s initial time, and Hamilton secured second place. Carlos Sainz chose to stay in the pits, but Charles Leclerc went out with Ferrari and pushed the Red Bull drivers to fourth and fifth place.
