| 13:50:23
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix race weekend from Fuji Speedway. This afternoon’s second 90-minute free practice session begins shortly. |
| 13:52:34
| This morning Ferrari held the upper hand with Kimi Raikkonen topping the timesheets at the new 4.563km circuit. The Finn set a best lap of 1:19.119s, nearly four-tenths clear of Felipe Massa in the second F2007. Fernando Alonso was third fastest for McLaren, just over a tenth shy of Massa, while championship leader Lewis Hamilton was another tenth back in the second McLaren. |
| 13:54:04
| Nico Rosberg was next up for Williams Toyota, the first of those to utilise the softer Bridgestone Potenza compound, with Robert Kubica next up for BMW Sauber and then Alex Wurz in the second Williams. Jarno Trulli, Adrian Sutil and Anthony Davidson rounded out the top ten for Toyota, Spyker Ferrari and Super Aguri Honda. |
| 13:56:38
| It was a largely incident free session this morning. Sakon Yamamoto and Sebastian Vettel both ran into mechanical problems and stopped on track. Vettel was able to run later in the session however. Fan-favourite Takuma Sato lost the first hour of running with problems on his Super Aguri, but would later record the 17th best lap time. |
| 13:58:04
| Over at Red Bull and both Mark Webber and David Coulthard spent lengthy period of the session in the pits. They would go on to set the 18th and 21st best time, but clearly some work to do on the Renault-powered RB3. |
| 14:00:04
| The second 90-minute practice session is now underway. |
| 14:00:31
| Sakon Yamamoto, Trulli and Schumacher are straight out. |
| 14:00:50
| It's hot and humid again this afternoon and no sign of rain. |
| 14:01:25
| Others are now heading out as news is coming in that Nico Rosberg will take a fresh engine tomorrow and incurr an engine change penalty. |
| 14:03:30
| Ralf Schumacher sets the initial pace on a 1:22.5, about 1.8s off his morning best. Yamamoto pitted. |
| 14:03:54
| All change as the first lap times come in. Fisichela is now fastest from Rosberg and Kubica. |
| 14:04:24
| Hamilton now P1 ahead of Kovalainen and Fisichella. |
| 14:04:42
| Raikkonen's morning best was a 1:19.119. |
| 14:05:00
| Now Alonso moves fastest from team-mate Hamilton. |
| 14:05:13
| Raikkonen and Massa remain in the pits. |
| 14:06:07
| Hamilton regains the top spot and locks his brakes into turn one. |
| 14:07:18
| A short first stint for Kovalainen, Fisichella and Trulli who pit. |
| 14:07:33
| The McLaren duo are on faster laps. |
| 14:08:16
| Alonso improves and closes the gap to Hamilton by two-tenths. |
| 14:08:51
| Mark Webber moves fifth ahead of Heidfeld. |
| 14:09:12
| Alonso pits his McLaren. Massa and Raikkonen yet to go out. |
| 14:09:45
| Kovalainen is now third ahead of Fisichella. Good early pace from Renault. |
| 14:10:36
| The front runners have now pitted. Raikkonen now heads out followed by Massa. |
| 14:12:56
| Fisichella is back out in his Renault as Sutil again shows well as he moves fifth fastest. |
| 14:14:28
| Massa and Raikkonen's first laps are not that fast, but we saw this earlier today as well. They should pick up speed by lap three. |
| 14:14:48
| Now they improves with Raikkonen third and Massa fourth. |
| 14:15:50
| A big gain for Fisichella who now moves fastest. Team-mate Kovalainen is back out now too. |
| 14:17:09
| Kovalainen now fastest by a fraction from Fisichella. |
| 14:17:41
| Kubica moves into the top ten in his BMW Sauber. |
| 14:19:24
| Yamamoto has a big moment in his Spyker. |
| 14:20:06
| He is now back in the pit and has some front wing damage courtesy of a brash with one of the Hondas. A close moment for the Spyker racer. |
| 14:20:32
| Hamilton is on a fast lap. |
| 14:21:06
| A better lap from the championship leader who is now fastest from Kovalainen and Fisichella. |
| 14:21:56
| Most are in the pits. Hamilton is on another fast lap as is team-mate Alonso. |
| 14:22:25
| Barrichello is currently slowest. He has a front wing change a few minutes ago as he chases the car setup. |
| 14:22:46
| Alonso moves second fastest, two-tenths adrift of Hamilton. |
| 14:24:01
| Actually, it could well have been Barrichello who made contact with Yamamoto as the mechanics look at the rear of the RA107 for possible damage. |
| 14:24:34
| Hamilton is now in the pits, Alonso on a hot lap as Ralf Schumacher has an off in the Toyota. |
| 14:25:20
| Following his problem, Schumacher is straight back to the Toyota pit. |
| 14:25:43
| Button moves seventh fastest in his Honda. |
| 14:28:34
| Kovalainen (3rd) is on the soft tyre. |
| 14:29:42
| Davidson moves into the top ten in his Super Aguri Honda. The team have a trio of new sponsors for this event. |
| 14:30:12
| A big gain for David Coulthard as well as he is now 11th. |
| 14:31:01
| Massa (6th) is the only front-runner on track. |
| 14:31:54
| Now Raikkonen and Hamilton are back out. Massa runs wide and kicks up the dirt. |
| 14:32:27
| That has ruined Massa's lap. He will regroup and try again. |
| 14:33:40
| Hamilton now starts another hot lap and is on the soft tyre. Alonso is now back out as well in the sister MP4-22. |
| 14:34:02
| Massa picks up three positions and is now third. |
| 14:34:20
| Hamilton finds time on the soft tyre and sets the fastest time of the day so far. |
| 14:35:46
| Rosberg, who will drop ten positions on the grid due to an engine change penalty, improves and is now sixth in the Williams Toyota. |
| 14:36:20
| Alonso closes the gap to Hamilton by four-tenths and is now just 0.2 down. |
| 14:38:10
| Raikkonen was P1 this morning and is now fifth in this session. |
| 14:39:29
| Vettel is now in the top ten in his Toro Rosso Ferrari. Alex Wurz too makes gains. |
| 14:41:52
| Toro Rosso are going for times right now as Tonio Liuzzi now moves into tenth position, just ahead of team-mate Vettel. Liuzzi is keen to remain ahead of his rookie team-mate as he does not have a drive yet for 2008. |
| 14:42:18
| Kubica is now seventh in his BMW Sauber. |
| 14:45:37
| Massa is wide again in his Ferrari and loses time. He remains third fastest. |
| 14:46:04
| Barrichello is back out after a long time in the pits and has now moves head of Sakon Yamamoto. |
| 14:48:46
| There is no real fast times coming in at the moment. It is very much the time for longer tyre evalaution runs at the moment. |
| 14:49:45
| A gain for Alex Wurz in his Williams Toyota as he is now eighth fastest. |
| 14:50:24
| Webber improves from 19th and is now P10. |
| 14:53:56
| Raikkonen improves his time but remain fifth fastest. |
| 14:54:49
| Jarno Trulli is on track and looking to improve on 18th in his Toyota. |
| 14:55:13
| A good lap from the Italian veteran as he is now fifth fastest. |
| 14:56:04
| Raikkonen has found just over a tenth and is now fourth fastest. |
| 15:00:17
| Not a lot of movement of the moment, but Ralf Schumacher has now improves to eighth. |
| 15:01:30
| The track is quite busy at the moment. Takuma Sato runs off track in his Super Aguri Honda. |
| 15:04:36
| This morning it was all about Ferrari. This afternoon, it is all McLaren. This is a similar pattern to Monza and Spa. |
| 15:06:57
| Trulli picks off another position and is now fourth fastest in his TF107. |
| 15:10:28
| 20 minutes remain. About half of the runners are on track on longer stints. |
| 15:12:19
| Yamamoto has moved 21st demoting Barrichello back to the bottom of the timesheets. |
| 15:19:39
| Hamilton and Alonso are on track, but no one is making gains at the moment with ten minutes remaining. |
| 15:24:36
| Raikkonen (5th) is back out. Alonso is on a long run on the soft tyre. |
| 15:24:52
| Now Massa back out with five minutes remaining. |
| 15:26:13
| All of the front-runners are on track. |
| 15:27:23
| Trulli (4th) pits his Toyota. |
| 15:28:38
| Trulli is straight back out but still no gains. This could be because the track teperature has dropped ten degrees from its peak. |
| 15:29:22
| Massa improves his time but remains third fastest. |
| 15:29:41
| Coulthard makes up 11 positions and is now eighth. |
| 15:30:03
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 15:31:11
| Barrichello gets himself off the final position and moves 17th. |
| 15:31:43
| Lewis Hamilton sets the Friday pace from Alonso, Massa, Trulli, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Fisichella, Coulthard, Schumacher and Kubica. |
