F1 witnessed a rare scene during the Japanese GP weekend as the FP2 session was interrupted due to some trackside fires. Apparently, the sparks coming from underneath the cars’ floors seem to have ignited the grass banks on the edge of the track asphalt.
Two such fires interrupted the FP2 session, bringing out the red flag as marshals promptly went to the site to extinguish it. However, what perplexed many is which car stimulated these fires.
Per RacingNews365’s Nick Golding, Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari could’ve been the reason for the first fire. “Cameras remarkably show sparks coming off the floor of the car, Lewis Hamilton’s being one of them, catching the grass, causing it to catch fire.”
Golding’s astute observation was right as footage came out showing Pierre Gasly’s Alpine sparking up at the sight of the first fire, following which Hamilton’s SF-25 passed the area, which properly kicked off the fire. So, will such fires keep igniting throughout the weekend? The FIA is trying their best to avoid such a scenario.
Firstly, they are going to figure out what has caused these fires. While Hamilton‘s Ferrari may have ignited the first one, the cause of the second still remains unknown.
Golding highlighted that the second fire actually started to spread quite quickly and brought out the fourth and final red flag of the session. With only a few seconds remaining on the clock, the FP2 session eventually came to an end.
Another Red Flag!
A very quickly spreading fire on the side of the track at the end of FP2 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/7YDcqRVCVW
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) April 4, 2025
On top of that, the sun beaming down with huge gusts of wind also did not help the situation with the fires spreading across the nearby grass.
FIA’s plans to stop grass fires in Suzuka
With two fires taking place in quick succession, the FIA is closely monitoring the situation. They revealed via a statement that they will keep marshal teams on standby across the track to increase their speed of response if such a situation were to arise again.
Moreover, they will also dampen the grass to reduce the risk of sparks igniting it and they will remove all dry grass from all such fire-prone areas.
“The grass has been cut as short as possible, and loose, dried grass has been removed from affected areas. Prior to tomorrow’s sessions, the grass will be dampened, and specific response teams will be stationed around the track,” the FIA’s statement read.
However, such measures do run the risk of cars sliding quite easily if they dip a wheel on these damp grass areas during their flying laps in qualifying.
So, Saturday’s running in dry conditions will be a challenge for drivers as they need to keep it clean while the marshals keep an eye on the grass fires. Hopefully, no more fires disrupt the final practice session and qualifying.
