Sutil Tops Wet Practice 2 at Suzuka

The Friday action at Suzuka circuit was risky business for most of the drivers, as heavy rain influenced both practice sessions scheduled at the Japanese track. It seems that Japan always greets Formula One with rain, as Suzuka looks no different from Fuji Speedway in terms of weather conditions.

After Heikki Kovalainen topped the first practice session on Friday, the rain got over the circuit completely. Under the circumstances, Brawn GP duo Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello decided to stay in the garage for the entire duration of P2, while joined by the very P1 winner Kovalainen.

Wet specialist Adrian Sutil mastered the elements in the pointless second practice, as all the drivers barely managed to drive around the track for 10 minutes. During the first 60 minutes, only Jaime Alguersuari and Fernando Alonso attempted to complete some exploratory laps on the Suzuka circuit, but both returned to the pits immediately as small rivers of water were formed on different areas of the track.

In the final 10 minutes of the session, all but the 3 aforementioned drivers went out to do some laps, with Sutil scoring the best time. Second overall was Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, while the podium was completed by another Force India driver, Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Here are the overall results of the second practice in Japan:

1. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)                      1:47.261 5
2. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)                      1:47.923 + 0.662 6
3. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India-Mercedes)              1:47.931 + 0.670 4
4. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)                    1:47.983 + 0.722 5
5. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota)                        1:48.058 + 0.797 8
6. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)                   1:48.691 + 1.430 9
7. Fernando Alonso (Renault)                                    1:48.693 + 1.432 5
8. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)                                                1:48.737 + 1.476 6
9. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)                  1:48.802 + 1.541 11
10. Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber)                              1:48.861 + 1.600 6
11. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)                                       1:48.886 + 1.625 4
12. Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota)                                    1:49.054 + 1.793 7
13. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)                          1:49.382 + 2.121 7
14. Romain Grosjean (Renault)                                   1:49.405 + 2.144 6
15. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ferrari)                                 1:49.553 + 2.292 5
16. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota)                            1:49.872 + 2.611 7
17. Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber)                                1:50.179 + 2.918 9
18. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes)               -
19. Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes)                         -
20. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes)                  -