#F1 #SingaporeGP FP2: @LandoNorris quickest ahead of @ScuderiaFerrari duo.

Norris Singapore GP FP2 – McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the time-sheets in FP2 at the Singapore GP ahead of Ferrari pairing Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who completed the top three.

Norris posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:30.727 on the C5 red side-walled softer rubber and was a very slim 0.058 seconds quicker than Leclerc whilst Sainz was a further 0.629 seconds adrift of his former team-mate in third.

Amid the early stints on the medium and harder tyres, the drivers sought to get a picture of the track evolution in the night-time conditions at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the lap-times rapidly went through amid the 1:32’s bracket – Leclerc brought the pack below the 1:33’s on the C4 yellow-marked mediums.

The Monegasque and Ferrari team-mate Sainz continued to set the pace, switching fastest laps, before Williams’ Alexander Albon beat the pairing – also on the mediums – setting a 1:32.238.

Leclerc continued the medium stint at full-speed dropping the benchmark further with a 1:31.665 effort, which Albon also found time during his initial flyer on the softs – a 1:31.650.

Although Albon set the early pace, the slimness of his advantage over the Ferrari duo on mediums suggested there was more in it in Singapore: it was proved to be right when Mercedes’ George Russell overcame his engine limp mode and posted a 1:34.488 on the softs with his initial hot-lap.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri quickly beat this by 0.014 seconds, noting he needed more downforce in his MCL38 racer as his team-mate Norris put in the initial benchmark under the 1:31’s mark on his opening effort on the softs, to post a convincing lap-time.

Leclerc got close, only 0.058 seconds off the McLaren driver as Sainz was a further six-tenths off in third.

Attention then moved to the longer race runs, starting with the softer compounds, as the drivers and engineers looked to use the only 60-minute-long session in representative conditions to prepare for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

This saw no shuffling in the timing sheets, ending with the same drivers holding the top three positions in the earlier Free Practice 1 session. Norris nether-the-less had a couple of scary moments throughout the 60-minutes under the lights, as the Briton reported he “hit the wall pretty hard” amid the long stints and later suffered a lock-up at turn seven.

Russell then went into the wall at turn eight with two minutes remaining, wedging his front wing under the barrier. The Briton managed to reverse his F1 W15 entry out to avoid bringing out a red flag. With minimal damage beyond the nosecone of his Silver Arrow.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were fourth and sixth respectively as McLaren’s Piastri split the pairing in fifth whilst the aforementioned Russell took seventh overall.

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was eighth as Williams’ Alexander Albon and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten.

Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton finished FP2 outside the top ten in 11^th place and ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll who took 12^th and 14^th places respectively whilst MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen split the two AMR24 entries in 13^th.

Championship leader Max Verstappen was down in 15^th for Red Bull and 1.3 seconds off the pace as Williams’ Franco Colapinto came 16^th in the classification.

Alpine pairing Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly ended the day 16^th and 17^th respectively as Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas finished at the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2024 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1246/singapore/practice/2

#F1 #SingaporeGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc pips @LandoNorris by 0.076s.

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