Japan: pre-qualifying 2022

The upshot of the Perez safety car investigation was a 5s penalty, so he retains the win. Huzzah!

Both of the initial practice sessions in Japan were wet, so the times may not be all that useful if qualifying/the race is dry. 

Alonso was fastest in FP1, ahead of Sainz and Leclerc, with Ocon next (so rather good for Alpine). Magnussen, Verstappen, and Schumacher followed, with Norris, Bottas, and Perez rounding out the top 10. 

A Mercedes 1-2, Russell fastest, led the way in second practice, with Verstappen and Perez six-tenths further back but within a tenth of each other. Magnussen and Sainz followed, then came Alonso, Bottas, Ocon, and Zhou Guanyu. 

Qualifying starts at 7am (and the race at 6pm) hence posting this now. The wet running makes it hard to assess if things dry out, and a high degree of randomness could apply if it does not.

So, not bet. The pre-race ramble will probably be up tomorrow afternoon, depending how fast the markets are to wake up. 

Morris Dancer

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