| 09:50:12
| Welcome to F1-Live.com and live coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend. Today we have two 90-minute practice sessions, the first of which gets underway shortly. |
| 09:52:57
| The off-track news ahead of this race weekend at Fuji Speedways has been the confirmation of Nick Heidfeld at BMW Sauber alongside Robert Kubica for the 2009 season. Honda has yet to confirm its plans for next year although Jenson Button is expected to remain while Rubens Barrichello may yet get a new deal from the Brackley-based squad. |
| 09:54:47
| Bridgestone meanwhile claim they are very ‘green’ as they back the FIA campaign to make cars green. Emphasising the point they have painted the grooves green. Just to make things really confusing, here’s what they are doing this weekend.... |
| 09:56:58
| The medium compound will have a green stripe in each of the four grooves while the soft compound will have three green stripes in grooves with the normal white line in the second from inside groove remaining. |
| 09:58:49
| Today we have the practice session in which the 20 drivers will evaluate the medium and soft tyres. Ferrari meanwhile has confirmed they have ditched their fancy lights system for the pitstops and have reverted to the low-tech lollipop system for the remainder of the season. |
| 10:00:56
| The first practice session at Fuji Speedway is now underway. |
| 10:01:31
| Adrian Sutil leads ahandful of cars out for what will be an installation lap. |
| 10:02:35
| It is a sunny day in Japan as Nakajima heads out in the Williams Toyota. |
| 10:04:03
| Jenson Button is on a second lap and may be the first to record a lap time. |
| 10:04:41
| Raikkonen and Massa remain in the pits. The rest are either on an installation lap or have already completed the lap. |
| 10:06:40
| The early runners are now all in the pits. Bourdais and Button started a second lap but both pitted before setting a time. |
| 10:08:00
| Vettel has also remained on track for a second lap. No times yet. |
| 10:08:49
| Vettel heads back to the Toro Rosso pit. |
| 10:10:00
| Kimi Raikkonen is in the car and waiting to go out. |
| 10:12:01
| The 18 runners so far have been out on the harder tyre - I think - as it is difficult to tell the tyre with the plethora of green paint on the tyres. |
| 10:13:24
| Glock heads back out in the Toyota. Raikkonen is on his installation lap. |
| 10:15:52
| Trulli joins Glock on track as the latter records the first timed lap of the session on a high 1:22s. |
| 10:16:08
| Raikkonen pits the Ferrari after his installation lap. |
| 10:17:21
| Another lap from Glock who gains two-tenths of a second. |
| 10:18:03
| This circuit is owned by Toyota and at the moment Glock and Trulli are the only two cars on track. |
| 10:18:24
| Trulli records a 1:22.4 and is second fastest to Glock. |
| 10:20:17
| Sebastien Bourdais heads back out for Toro Rosso. Glock and Trulli continue to chip away at the lap times. |
| 10:22:21
| Glock remains fastest from Trulli by almost half a second. Nelson Piquet is now out in his Renault. |
| 10:22:37
| Glock runs off track and continues. |
| 10:23:01
| Bourdais moves third fastest behind the Toyota duo. |
| 10:24:57
| Piquet's first lap moves him third fastest ahead of Bourdais and behind Glock and Trulli. |
| 10:26:00
| Oh dear, Robert Kubica has discovered facial hair. He has a new beard - sort of. He is sitting in the BMW pits at the moment. |
| 10:26:30
| Trulli pits. Glock remains on a long first stint and is fastest by four-tenths at the moment. |
| 10:27:20
| Gains from Piquet and Bourdais who are now second and third fastest ahead of Trulli. |
| 10:27:54
| Raikkonen is back out. No sign of Massa so far this morning. |
| 10:28:26
| Barrichello, out of contract and seemingly out of F1 at the end of the season, is now out in his Honda. |
| 10:28:49
| Mark Webber heads out in his Red Bull Renault. |
| 10:29:16
| Piquet is now fastest but Bourdais is on a fast lap. |
| 10:30:08
| Piquet improves and is now fastest on a 1:20.3 from Bourdais, Glock, Raikkonen and Trulli. |
| 10:30:57
| Nakajima heads out for Williams. Massa is getting readfy to go out for the first time. |
| 10:31:24
| Raikkonen moves fastest from Piquet on a 1:20.0s. |
| 10:31:56
| Webber and Nakajima post first laps as Rosberg and Button head out. |
| 10:32:49
| Nick Heidfeld, now confirmed at BMW for 2009, heads out. |
| 10:33:08
| Heikki Kovalainen heads out in his McLaren Mercedes. |
| 10:34:03
| Raikkonen improves his own best and is now eight-tenths clear of Piquet who has pitted his Renault. |
| 10:34:20
| Hamilton, Alonso, Fisichella head out. |
| 10:35:33
| Plenty of new times now as Webber moves P5 ahead of Rosberg, Heidfeld, Trulli, Nakajima, Barrichello and Button. |
| 10:36:15
| Kovalainen's first lap is not a fast one as he slots P12 and slowest so far. |
| 10:36:37
| Hamilton vaults second fastest with Alonso up to fifth. |
| 10:37:59
| A gain from Kovalainen as he moves third fastest ahead of Piquet and Bourdais who are both now in the pits. |
| 10:38:45
| Hamilton runs off track at turn one. He takes to the run off tarmac and continues. |
| 10:39:18
| Raikkonen remains fastest from Hamilton. Massa and Kubica are on first timed laps. |
| 10:39:52
| A long first stint for Raikkonen as both Hamilton and Kovalainen have pitted after just a handful of laps. |
| 10:40:46
| Raikkonen pits and Alonso moves third fastest for Renault. |
| 10:42:15
| All 20 drivers have now set a time. Massa is slowest at the moment but on a better lap. |
| 10:43:19
| Now Massa understeers to P4 behind Raikkonen, Hamilton and Alonso. |
| 10:43:49
| Webber and Coulthard are slowest at the moment for Red Bull. |
| 10:45:20
| A gain for Alonso who closes to within a tenth of the fastest time. He remains third fastest ahead of Massa. |
| 10:46:23
| Adrian Sutil is running well at the moment. He moves P8 in the leading Force India Ferrari. |
| 10:47:06
| Kubica backs off and allows team-mate Heidfeld to pass. |
| 10:47:34
| Massa has improves and is now third fastest ahead of Alonso who has pitted. |
| 10:49:00
| Another gain from Massa as he moves second to Raikkonen by a slim margin. It is a Ferrari one-two at the moment. |
| 10:50:34
| Kubica gains time and moves fifth fastest in the leading BMW Sauber. Team-mate Heidfeld is down in 15th. |
| 10:51:58
| Fisichella is currently slowest in the second Force India. Team-mate Sutil is ninth fastest and a second faster at the moment. |
| 10:52:14
| The front-runners are now in the pits. |
| 10:53:50
| Raikkonen and Alonso are back out. |
| 10:55:29
| A small gain from Rosberg who moves 14th for Williams. Hamilton, third, is back out. |
| 10:57:34
| Rosberg is now back in the pits and is being bumped back down the order. Indeed, Williams are in positions 18 and 19 at the moment ahead of only Fisichella. |
| 10:59:48
| Still on the harder tyre, Hamilton moves fastest, three-tenths ahaead of Raikkonen and Massa. |
| 11:01:56
| Just under 30 minutes remain in this session. Most of the front-runners are on track at the moment as Alonso runs wide and continues. |
| 11:03:28
| Massa is pushing hard as he moves second fastest behind Hamilton and ahead of Raikkonen. |
| 11:04:50
| Hamilton improves his own best and moves a tenth clear of Massa. |
| 11:05:13
| Kovalainen moves third fastest ahead of Raikkonen. |
| 11:06:07
| Hamilton pits as Massa starts a flying lap. |
| 11:07:14
| A quick stop for Hamilton who heads straight back out. |
| 11:09:50
| Hamilton pits leaving Massa and Kovalainen on track amongst the front-runners. |
| 11:10:10
| Nakajima is now the slowest runner at 2.2 seconds off the pace. |
| 11:11:09
| Rosberg moves 11th best in the leading Williams. |
| 11:12:17
| The fastest five are covered by six-tenths and then there is a similar gap back to Piquet in P6. |
| 11:13:37
| Coulthard takes a trip across the grass before rejoining. |
| 11:15:09
| Most of the front-runners are in the pits. Hamilton remains fastest from Massa, Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Alonso. |
| 11:17:43
| After leading the way at the start of this session, Toyota are now down in 14th and 16th with Trulli ahead of Glock. |
| 11:18:27
| Bourdais has moved ahead of team-mate Vettel and is now eighth. |
| 11:20:30
| Ten minutes remain and there are no major changes at the moment. Raikkonen and Hamilton are back out. |
| 11:23:07
| It is hard to tell, but most still seems to be lapping with the harder tyre at the moment. The circuit is busy but no gains at the moment. |
| 11:25:47
| All on track now except Webber. |
| 11:26:32
| Piquet improves his time and gets closer to team-mate Alonso. |
| 11:27:40
| Heidfeld (13th) runs off track and spins in his BMW Sauber before rejoining. |
| 11:28:44
| Vettel has a quick stop and heads back out. |
| 11:29:56
| Nakajima finds some time in his Williams as he moves tenth fastest. |
| 11:30:10
| The chequered flag is out. |
| 11:31:09
| Hamilton is fastest for McLaren on a 1:18.9 ahead of Massa, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Alonso, Piquet, Vettel, Kubica, Bourdais and Nakajima. |
