Piastri and Norris believe McLaren 'in the running' in Japan

McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were cautiously optimistic that they will be firmly in the running this weekend after a solid start in Friday's practice sessions at Suzuka.

Both men were in the top ten after first practice, with Piastri eighth after recording a best time of 1:31.165s with Norris just eight hundredths of a second slower in P10.

The afternoon session was severely affected by rain with Piastri completing just seven laps, but a well timed late run on soft slicks saw him end FP2 quickest with a time of 1:34.725s.

“Not a lot going on in FP2 today, but I was able to get a couple of laps in at the end in the tricky conditions," he remarked later. "“Even in FP1 the timing of the red flag [for Logan Sargeant's crash] was pretty awkward for us.

"I think we’re about where we have been. I don’t really have much more than that at the moment, we’ll see what we can do tomorrow," he replied when he was asked how McLaren stood this weekend. "I think we’ve got a competitive car."

• Read also: Piastri quickest as showers thwart Suzuka second practice

"We learned a few bits and pieces, and I think we are in decent shape, but it is hard to know," Piastri added cautiously.

McLaren enjoyed a strong outing last time out in Australia, with Norris on the podium alongside Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, and Piastri finishing right behind them in P4 in his home race.

"It will be interesting to see if we can replicate the pace we had in Australia," Piastri agreed. “Obviously Suzuka was a good track for us last year, but I feel like other people have gained some more strengths [since then].

"We’ll see what we can do, but I think we’re reasonably optimistic we can be close to the front," he concluded.

Norris was also satisfied with how FP1 had gone. "Better than it looked, I think," he said, blaming the red flag triggered by Sargeant's accident for losing possibly his best chance of improving on his lap time.

“While I was on my best lap the red flag came out and then the tyres drop off a lot on the second lap," he explained, adding that he had been on a different level force of downforce to Piastri during. he session.

“I tried something different, I tried a bit lower [downforce setting] and it didn’t seem to be quite as good," he admitted. "I’m sure tomorrow morning will be fine just to get that kind of final feeling before quali.

"The car’s still good," he continued. "It’s more that, just like we said, Ferrari have taken a good step forward and are probably ahead of us.

“I think we’re in a good position - probably around third-quickest team - but Mercedes and Aston are very, very close with us, kind of as you would expect. And Ferrari and Red Bull are too far ahead.

“It would have been nice to get some more running today," Norris said. “But the car is still performing in the window we expect and where we think it should be.

"Still a struggle in certain places, so the focus is on trying to limit the losses in those few places. If we can do that I think we can still have a good day.”

Team principal Andrea Stella lamented the poor weather that hit second practice. "It meant that there wasn’t much track running, a shame for the super F1 fans who came to the circuit today.

"Hopefully the remainder of the weekend will be busier on track," he added, although there is still a strong risk of rain hitting Suzuka International Racing Course on or during Sunday's race.

"The limited running leaves some unknowns in terms of car setup and also, to some extent, tyre behaviour for the rest of the weekend. However this is the same for everyone, and may also present an opportunity.”

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