Oscar Piastri finished fastest in a chaotic second practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix, which saw four red flags, including a significant crash for Jack Doohan.

Piastri was narrowly ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris by just half a tenth of a second, continuing McLaren`s strong performance. However, the session was heavily disrupted, with only 20 minutes of track time out of the scheduled hour due to the interruptions.

Doohan, who was substituting for Ryo Hirakawa in this practice, lost control of his Alpine car at the fast Turn 1, resulting in a heavy impact with the barriers and the loss of two wheels.

It initially appeared that Doohan`s car bottomed out, but replays indicated that his DRS remained open, which should typically be closed before braking for Turn 1.

Doohan, reported to be okay after a medical check, was assisted out of his car, and the session was halted for approximately 20 minutes for barrier repairs.

Shortly after the restart, Fernando Alonso spun at Turn 8, beaching his Aston Martin in the gravel and causing another red flag, highlighting the challenging windy conditions.

As teams rushed to complete qualifying simulations, the session was red-flagged for a third time when sparks from cars caused a fire in the grass beside the track.

Despite a brief resumption, a fourth red flag ended the session prematurely due to another grass fire.

McLaren`s pace appeared unmatched by other teams over a single lap, mirroring Norris`s fastest time in the earlier practice.

Isack Hadjar impressed with third place for Racing Bulls, while Liam Lawson, back in the team, was fifth. Max Verstappen was only eighth, and Yuki Tsunoda was further down the order, both struggling in the disjointed session.

Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari, ahead of George Russell in sixth for Mercedes.