by F1 correspondent Michael Butterworth

SUZUKA, Japan, April 4 (Xinhua) -- McLaren's Oscar Piastri emerged fastest in an interrupted second practice session for Sunday's Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, with over half of the 60 minutes lost to four separate incidents.

The first and longest stoppage occurred near the start of the hour following a huge crash for Jack Doohan.

Having given his Alpine over to reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa in FP1, Doohan was on a push lap when his car snapped out of control on the downhill run to Turn 1, sending him careening into the barriers at around 280 km/h.

It was not immediately obvious what had caused Doohan's crash, though gusts of wind have swirled around the Suzuka Circuit all day.

Doohan can ill afford such a heavy accident, after having crashed out of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, and with his seat rumored to be under threat from reserve driver Franco Colapinto.

Later in the hour, the red flags came out for a second time when Fernando Alonso spun after dipping a wheel on the grass at Degner 1, beaching his Aston Martin in the gravel trap.

Two more bizarre stoppages occurred in the closing stages of the session, when separate patches of grass caught fire.

In scenes reminiscent of last year's Chinese Grand Prix weekend, the fire looked to have been caused by sparks from the cars bottoming out at high speed, with the windy conditions at Suzuka exacerbating the situation.

Under Formula 1 rules, red flags do not result in the one-hour practice sessions being extended, and with over half of FP2 having been lost, teams will have little to no long-run data to analyze ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix.

Lando Norris ensured that McLaren finished the session first and second, with Isack Hadjar an impressive third for Racing Bulls, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari.

Hadjar's teammate Liam Lawson ended up a solid fifth after Red Bull elected to swap him and Yuki Tsunoda around ahead of this weekend.

World champion Max Verstappen was only eighth for Red Bull after complaining of understeer, while new teammate and local hero Tsunoda finished the session down in 18th, though he was one of several whose progress was interrupted. Enditem

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