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Hamilton and Mercedes remain dominant in FP2 at Suzuka

It was more of the same from Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in Friday's second free practice, with the four-time world champion keeping his team mate and his rivals at bay.

Hamilton's fastest lap in 1m28.217s provided him with a 0.461s margin over Valtteri Bottas, while Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen rounded off the top five.

2018 Japanese Grand Prix - Free Practice 2

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:28.217s		31
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:28.678s	+ 0.461s	30
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:29.050s	+ 0.833s	36
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:29.257s	+ 1.040s	32
5	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:29.498s	+ 1.281s	33
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	1:29.513s	+ 1.296s	27
7	Esteban Ocon	Force India	1:30.035s	+ 1.818s	32
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas	1:30.440s	+ 2.223s	32
9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	1:30.478s	+ 2.261s	33
10	Brendon Hartley	Toro Rosso	1:30.502s	+ 2.285s	27
11	Sergio Pérez	Force India	1:30.510s	+ 2.293s	28
12	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	1:30.644s	+ 2.427s	36
13	Pierre Gasly	Toro Rosso	1:30.795s	+ 2.578s	10
14	Carlos Sainz	Renault	1:30.904s	+ 2.687s	31
15	Charles Leclerc	Sauber	1:30.906s	+ 2.689s	26
16	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:30.956s	+ 2.739s	25
17	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	1:30.988s	+ 2.771s	34
18	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams	1:31.087s	+ 2.870s	39
19	Lance Stroll	Williams	1:31.215s	+ 2.998s	32
20	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren	1:31.981s	+ 3.764s	32

Suzuka remained overcast as the second free practice session got underway, but with no real threat of rain fortunately.

McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne were the first to hit the track when the light went green, the Belgian driver beginning his Japanese Grand Prix weekend in earnest after sitting out FP1 when Lando Norris occupied the seat of his MCL32.

With a deficit to make up on the impressive Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel laid down the first significant time with a 1m29.971s, with team mate Kimi Raikkonen snapping at his heels just 0.032s slower.

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Mercedes, Red Bull and Gasly remained in their respective garage in the first 15 minutes of running.

While Hamilton and Bottas were still in preparation mode, the Toro Rosso driver's state of affairs appeared more alarming, his car the victim of an apparent sensor issue.

Once he got going, Hamilton lost no time in putting himself at the top of the timesheet, the Brit laying down a lap in 1m29.005s using the soft tyre and edging Vettel, Bottas, Raikkonen and the Red Bull pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

A change to the supersoft unsurprisingly boosted Hamilton's speed even further, giving him a comfortable cushion of 0.461s over Bottas with a lap in 1m28.217.

Meanwhile, it was once again a tight battle in the upper tier of the midfield, with Ocon, Grosjean, Ericsson and Hartley separated by less than a tenth of a second.

With just ten minutes to go and the work on his car finally complete, Pierre Gasly exited the Toro Rosso box, a lap in 1m30.795s putting him P13, between Renault's Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz.

The field blended qualifying simulations with long runs in the closing stages of the session but the running order at the front remained unchanged. And once again, McLaren and Williams made up the rear. Oh, how the giants have fallen!

So far, it's been the perfect start to the Japanese Grand Prix weekend for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, while Ferrari definitely needs to raise its game, or suffer another painful defeat.

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Michael Delaney