Morning After: Lack of wets leaves fans high and dry

If you were hoping after Malaysia for a three-way fight in Suzuka, well… you’re going to have to wait a bit longer.

Initial offerings, on day one of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, were good with a Sebastian Vettel-Lewis Hamilton-Daniel Ricciardo 1-2-3 in morning practice, but as Kimi Raikkonen pointed out, really, there was nothing to learn.

Thankfully we were treated to a bit of action off the track, with Renault confirming the signing of former FIA technical department head Marcin Budkowski after a scant three-month layoff from his previous position.

As expected the move was met with widespread opposition from opposing teams, given Budkowski’s knowledge of if not their designs, then certainly their concepts for 2018.

Fortunately for Renault, the law seems to be on their side, and thus the age-old tradition of F1 teams exploiting each and every loophole continues.

Sometimes a dearth of Friday running can’t be avoided, but that makes it all the worse when a bit of common sense could’ve made the difference.

At least, according to Daniel Ricciardo, who told reporters the lack of running in FP2 was largely down to the lack of full-wet tyres at the teams’ disposal.

With expectations of more rain over the weekend and only four sets available, Ricciardo suggested teams were left with no choice but to stay away, as the extra set of inters available of Friday wasn’t enough for the conditions.

By itself, it’s not the biggest deal – short of depriving some of the sport’s best fans of some more action, but taken in conjunction with the ongoing Budkowski sage and it’s safe to say the FIA isn’t looking too hot right now. In both cases, their short-sightedness has caused an issue that you would think could’ve been easily avoided.