SINGAPORE GP – Lando Norris fastest six hundredths ahead of Charles Leclerc in second practice
Lando Norris was fastest in second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, the McLaren driver set a 30.727 going just under six hundredths ahead of Charles Leclerc. Norris set his fastest time midway through the session going ahead of both Ferrari’s with Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz going third but over half a second off.
Norris goes into this weekend looking to bounce back after his difficult qualifying which put him on the back foot in Baku. The McLaren once again looked very comfortable out on track with Norris’ championship rival Max Verstappen appearing to struggle with his Red Bull ending the session over a second off the pace in fifteenth.
McLaren and Ferrari have shared victories across the last three races with the previous two extremely tightly contested, and a similar battle appears likely in Singapore after Norris and Leclerc were very evenly matched throughout Friday. While Red Bull has fallen from its dominance and have not won a race since June
Norris’ strong showing came amid a furore over the rear wing McLaren ran as Piastri won in Azerbaijan last weekend, which the sport’s governing body has now ordered them to alter before using it again at other low-downforce circuits later in the season.
Norris and Leclerc appeared to be in a league of their own at the stunning street circuit, with the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz six tenths off the pace in third. This puts them into a really good position as the session is the most representative of qualifying and the race under the lights.
But Red Bull’s sister team RB look to be having a really strong start to the weekend, with Yuki Tsunoda going fourth fastest a hundredth ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo. But they were spilt by the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who was seven thousandths behind Tsunoda and ahead of his fellow Australian by four thousandths.
Piastri avoided drama when he ran wide at Memorial Corner (Seven) and hit the wall at and seventeen during the session.
George Russell put his Mercedes seventh fastest over a tenth behind the RB as he had the same margin over Sergio Perez. Mercedes has always been a bit hit-and-miss around Marina Bay and that looks set to continue this weekend, Russell also had an issue with his car going into ‘limp mode’ on his soft tyre run.
Russell brought out the yellow flags in the closing moments of the session when he went into the wall at Stamford (Turn Eight), wedging his front wing under the barrier. The Mercedes driver managed to back his car out to avoid bringing out a red flag, with minimal apparent damage beyond his nosecone.
While Perez complained that his Red Bull’s balance was “all over the place” after being given a black and white flag for crossing the white line at the pit exit to avoid a slow-moving Aston Martin,
Alex Albon was ninth nine-tenths off the pace and ahead of Nico Hulkenberg by just over a hundredth and a half. However, on the mediums the Williams driver looked a lot closer to the two Ferrari’s, suggesting Williams could be fighting for points this weekend as he was four hundredths faster than Nico Hulkenberg.
Underlining Mercedes’s struggles for competitiveness Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes eleventh he was just under a second off the outright pace. The seven-time champion saying it was “unbelievable” that they had struggled to be competitive on pace, as he went four hundredths ahead of his former teammate Fernando Alonso.
On his return following his one race ban, Kevin Magnussen spilt the two Aston Martin’s going just over four hundredths behind Alonso and ahead of Verstappen by seven hundredths. Following Baku and recent trends where Red Bull has struggled to ride the kerbs many expected them to struggle but Verstappen said the grip was more the issue.
Franco Colapinto put his Williams sixteenth ahead of both the Alpines, with Esteban Ocon just over a tenth ahead of Pierre Gasly. The Sauber’s completed the field, Guanyu Zhou over four tenths ahead of Valtteri Bottas