Friday practice at the Japanese Grand Prix was far from smooth, with four red flag interruptions during FP2. First, it was Jack Doohan who brought out the red flag after he had a scary high-speed crash into turn one before Fernando Alonso beached his car onto the gravel shortly after.
While such incidents are common on a track as difficult as Suzuka, the other two red flags were brought out for frightening reasons. On two separate occasions, the grass beside the track caught fire, leading marshals to be deployed to extinguish it.
Red flag deployed
A small grass fire beside the circuit is currently being extinguished#F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/OomAusRYH5
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 4, 2025
Understanding the seriousness of the issue, the FIA is currently investigating what led to the fire. And as they continue to investigate, they are also taking preemptive measures to avoid a repeat of a similar situation on Saturday and Sunday.
“While we continue to look into the fires that occurred during FP2, our focus before tomorrow will be on taking pre-emptive measures,” the FIA revealed via a statement. “The grass has been cut as short as possible and loose, dried grass has been removed from affected areas”.
They added that before Saturday’s FP3, the “grass will be dampened,” and they will station response teams around the track to take swift action if a similar situation were to arise. As peculiar as it was to see the grass catch fire in the cool conditions at Suzuka, this is not the first time that such a situation has arisen.
Even last year, during FP1 of the Chinese GP, the grass caught fire. With the FIA taking the necessary actions, they were able to ensure that the rest of the weekend went smoothly.
Per Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz, it was the sparks flying due to the titanium skid blocks underneath the cars that caused the fire. However, with him not anticipating that many sparks during the race with the cars going slower, he believes there would be no interruptions during the Grand Prix on Sunday.
“You tend to get less sparks in the race because they are not going as quickly, so maybe we won’t have an interrupted Grand Prix, but the circuit organisers may need to douse every bit of the track,” he said.
On top of that, there is a high chance of rain affecting the race on Sunday afternoon. So, any chances of sparks igniting flames on the grass banks would be nullified if the heavens opened up.
