Source – VAVEL.com
In Friday’s second practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix, McLaren driver Lando Norris led Ferrari opponent Charles Leclerc, but the action was cut short when George Russell’s Mercedes collided with the wall in the late stages.
As the sun dipped below the horizon and Marina Bay’s iconic floodlights illuminated the track, the second practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix got underway, setting the stage for a dramatic evening. Following a twilight opening practice, the drivers now had another hour to fine-tune their setups for the weekend ahead, and the session didn’t disappoint, delivering both high-speed heroics and costly mistakes.
The initial phase of FP2 saw drivers focusing on long runs, using the harder medium and hard tyre compounds. Ferrari quickly asserted themselves as the early pace-setters, with Charles Leclerc posting an impressive 1m 31.655s, narrowly ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz by just three-tenths of a second. The Williams of Alex Albon slotted into third place, maintaining his strong form from the earlier session, followed closely by George Russell and the RB-powered cars of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.
About 20 minutes into the session, the mood shifted as drivers began switching to the soft tyres, a clear signal that qualifying simulations were about to unfold. Albon was one of the first to make the jump to the faster rubber, immediately claiming the top spot with a time just 0.015s quicker than Leclerc’s best on the mediums, proving how close the competition was shaping up to be. However, the leaderboard was far from settled.
Lando Norris soon stamped his authority on the session, firing in a rapid 1m 30.727s to take P1. His lap was just under a tenth quicker than Leclerc, who, despite brushing the wall at Turn 14, managed to hold on to second place. The Ferrari driver radioed his team, requesting a data check for any potential damage to his car, but it seemed Leclerc had avoided any significant harm.
Sainz backed up his teammate with a solid third-place finish, keeping Ferrari in contention at the sharp end of the field. Further down the order, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda continued his impressive showing by securing fourth, while Ricciardo slotted into sixth, sandwiching Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. Despite a strong session, Piastri had his share of challenges, running wide at Turn 7 and later slamming into the wall at Turn 17 during his soft-tyre run. His teammate Norris wasn’t immune to mistakes either, brushing the barrier at Turn 3 and veering off into an escape road to avoid oncoming traffic.
The drama didn’t stop there. George Russell, who had been flying earlier in the session, found himself in trouble during the closing minutes. The Mercedes driver misjudged his entry into Turn 8, crashing heavily into the barriers and ripping off his front wing. Though the damage ended his session early, Russell’s pace prior to the incident was strong enough to keep him seventh on the timesheets.
Red Bull’s struggles continued under the lights, with Sergio Perez managing to post the eighth-fastest time. Perez described his car’s balance as “all over the place,” a sentiment reflected in his lap times. In an additional hiccup, he was handed a black-and-white flag for crossing the white line at the pit exit while attempting to avoid a slow-moving Aston Martin. Max Verstappen’s woes were even more pronounced. After receiving a penalty from the FIA for swearing during Thursday’s press conference, the two-time world champion was unable to get into a rhythm, finishing a disappointing 15th, a full 1.2 seconds off Norris’s pace. Verstappen’s frustration was evident as he struggled to make any significant progress, trailing behind the likes of Albon, Lewis Hamilton, and the Haas and Aston Martin drivers.
Hamilton himself didn’t have the smoothest session. Grappling with “no rear end” and “massive understeer” throughout, the seven-time world champion found it difficult to extract performance from his car. His frustrations boiled over when his best lap on soft tyres only earned him 11th place, sandwiched between Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso. “It’s unbelievable,” Hamilton muttered over the radio, reflecting his exasperation with the car’s handling.
Meanwhile, Williams rookie Franco Colapinto had an eventful session, mistakenly stopping at the wrong pit box before returning to the action. Despite the confusion, Colapinto finished 16th, just ahead of the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. The two Saubers of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the field, struggling for pace in the challenging conditions.
As FP2 concluded, drivers and teams retreated to the paddock, ready to dig through reams of data in preparation for Saturday’s final practice session, which will begin at 17:30 local time. With qualifying scheduled for 21:00 under the Singapore night sky, there’s still plenty to fight for, and with the tight margins seen in practice, the battle for pole position promises to be fiercely competitive. As always at Marina Bay, precision will be key, and any mistake could be the difference between glory and heartbreak on this demanding street circuit.
