Japanese Grand Prix hit by multiple fires as session red flagged

The first day on track at the Japanese Grand Prix has been full of drama with four red flags triggered during the second practice session on Friday.

Whilst the first two were caused by driver incidents on track from Jack Doohan and Fernando Alonso, the third red flag was waved after the grass at the side of the track caught fire.

With the clock continuing to count down and the remaining 18 drivers on track eager to get in valuable runs ahead of Saturday's qualifying, the small fire at the exit of Turn 11 delayed proceedings even further.

Friday's weather in Suzuka produced a dangerous combination of extremely dried-out grass and windy conditions, meaning that sparks from the F1 machinery were being swept into the path of the grass on the left-hand side of the track.

Sky F1's Ted Kravitz had mentioned concern over the conditions at the start of FP1 on Friday after a similar incident took place in Shanghai last year with the yellow grass also causing havoc.

This year's incident went from bad to worse however when a fourth red flag had to be waved with just seconds to go in FP2 after another fire began to spread rapidly trackside.

Observing the rapidly growing fire, Sky's David Croft said: "I’d say with the wind and with the dry nature of the grass, this is a worry."

Last year in Shanghai, chemicals were scattered over the grass surrounding the track to prevent further fire damage, a route that potentially could be taken in Suzuka to prevent further interruptions.

Sunday’s main event is at less risk of continued fire breakouts however with less frequent sparks expected to be produced in the race as a result of the reduced speed of the cars and less bottoming out.

The shock incidents have left most teams on the grid with the nightmare scenario of having barely any decent long-run data from the session to take into Sunday's race.

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