Renault’s drivers say their R.S.19 is more competitive than practice pace suggested at Suzuka, but risk starting from row nine in the event of qualifying being cancelled.
Second practice results could be used to set the grid in the event of the rescheduled Sunday morning qualifying session not taking place.
Daniel Ricciardo mustered only 17th while Nico Hulkenberg was 18th, the pair faster only than the Williams drivers.
“We expected to be further up,” said Ricciardo.
“We have a car to be further up but we got a little bit out of sync at the end, trying to get the laps in when others were on their long runs. We got caught up in a bit of it.
“The morning was not that strong. I was not too comfortable with everything in the car. I felt we were quite a bit off so we did make progress in the afternoon.
“Hopefully the weather is good enough Sunday morning to qualify. Then we can race.”
Hulkenberg also felt Renault’s decision to go for a hot lap at the end of the session – rather than earlier as is usual – skewered its prospects, but outlined a need to improve the balance.
“The run sequence we chose clearly didn’t work,” he said. “We had ourselves over a bit with that.
“Other people seemed to have quite a bit of pace and for me, the balance wasn't quite together. It is quite a balance circuit.
“[The balance issues were due to] a bit of both front and rear axle, not talking to each other in a good way. And just not as connected as I would like them to be.”
