McLaren driver Jenson Button set the fastest time in Friday’s practice sessions for the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix.
The Briton clocked a time of 1 minute, 31.901 seconds in the afternoon session at the Suzuka circuit to finish 0.174 seconds ahead of Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was third.
Button must win Sunday’s race and hope that Vettel finishes out of the points in order to keep the drivers’ championship fight alive.
Vettel’s Red Bull teammate Mark Webber was fourth, followed by Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, Mercedes pair Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, then McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton.
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Vettel, who has won nine of 14 races this season, holds a 124-point lead over Button with five races to go and is looking to become the sport’s youngest two-title winner.
Button also had the fastest time in the morning practice session. ESPN
Vitaly Petrov continued to give Renault encouragement with ninth-best time of 1m 33.446s, chased by Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso on 1m 33.681s, team mate Jaime Alguersuari on 1m 33.705s, Adrian Sutil on 1m 33.790s for Force India, Sergio Perez’s Sauber on 1m 34.393s, Bruno Senna’s Renault on 1m 34.557s and Paul di Resta’s Force India on 1m 34.601s. Senna had a spin in Turn One, but managed to get going again.
It was another rough session for Williams; Rubens Barrichello crashed at the hairpin, and Pastor Maldonado rolled to a halt. They were classified 17th and 21st respectively, on 1m 37.123s and 1m 38.387s. Ahead of the Brazilian was Heikki Kovalainen on 17th for Lotus on 1m 36.225s, while the Virgins of Timo Glock (1m 37.440s) and Jerome D’Ambrosio (1m 38.093s) separated him from his team mate.
Daniel Ricciardo was the faster HRT again on 1m 38.763s after team-mate Tonio Liuzzi’s car stopped out on the track leaving the Italian 24th on 1m 42.480s. In between them, an unhappy Jarno Trulli posted 1m 39.800s in the second Lotus. Formula 1
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