Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa was all smiles after his official F1 baptism of fire in Friday’s Japanese GP opening practice with RB, describing the experience of lapping Suzuka in an F1 car as “a special feeling”.
The 22-year-old Super Formula racer replaced Daniel Ricciardo in the 60-minute session which was fortunately held in dry conditions.
Iwasa acquitted himself well, steering clear of trouble and running consistently through RB’s aero programmes, clocking in at the end of the session P16, less than second off his teammate Yuki Tsunoda’s best lap.
