Max Verstappen proved his and Red Bull's Singapore slump was a one-off blip by dominantly topping both Friday practice sessions at the Japanese GP.
Comfortably fastest in first practice by six tenths of a second on Friday morning, Verstappen again topped the timesheet in Practice Two with a 1:30.688.But Ferrari's Charles Leclerc halved the world champion's advantage in the afternoon, ending up 0.320s off the Red Bull.Lando Norris had been tipped on Thursday to be Red Bull's nearest challenger, and the British driver is firmly in the mix after finishing third in both sessions. The McLaren was 0.464s off the pace in Practice Two.
Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top 10 for Alfa Romeo, edging out Lance Stroll who was back in the Aston Martin on Friday after missing the Singapore GP race.And just three tenths of a second covered Alonso in sixth and Hamilton in 14th, to suggest Saturday's Qualifying will feature a tightly-contested battle to reach Q3.
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