#SingaporeGP FP2: @Carlossainz55 pips team-mate @CharlesLeclerc by 0.018 seconds. #F1

Sainz Singapore GP FP2 – Carlos Sainz pipped team-mate Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two in FP2 at the Singapore GP as Mercedes’ George Russell was third.

Sainz posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:32.120 on the C5 red side-walled softer tyres and was a very narrow 0.018 seconds in-front of team-mate Leclerc as Russell was a further 0.235 adrift of the Spaniard.

Being set at a time representative of tomorrow’s qualifying session and Sunday’s Grand Prix, FP2 is considered as the sole-practice session as the circuit had cooled under the night sky.

Leclerc posted the early benchmark on the C4 yellow-marked mediums with his final stint, out-pacing Ferrari team-mate Sainz’s advantage at the top by a quarter of a second as the latter held P1 for the majority of the early proceedings.

Sainz previously demoted Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso posting a 1:33.303, which he improved to a 1:33.213 on his next flyer, but Leclerc was the first to go into the 1:32’s with his 1:32.974 effort.

This preceded a small lull in action before the pack returned to the track on the softs to complete their qualifying simulation runs as the conditions continued to cool further.

Sainz was in-front of Leclerc on-track and had to endure his first two sectors being narrowly beaten by the Monegasque driver but managed to post a 1:32.210 effort regardless.

Leclerc suffered a snap in his SF-23 racer at turns 18 and 19 and rattled over the kerb moments before going across the start/finish line, which cost him a small gain he’d built and saw him fall short by only 0.018 seconds.

The Ferrari duo done another flying lap on the softs but were unable to improve on their efforts and remained at the head of the times for the remainder of the session.

Mercedes’ George Russell got the closest to the Ferrari pairing, 0.235 seconds off the pace, despite a few scary moments onboard his F1 W14 racer. The Briton’s effort knocked Alonso out of the top three as the Spaniard had to settle for fourth in the classification.

Four-time Singapore Grand Prix winner Sir Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top five in the other Mercedes F1 W14 entry and ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, whose MCL60 was fully fitted with the Woking based-outfit’s latest upgrades.

Meanwhile, Red Bull were continuing to struggle finding any front-running pace particularly with a difficult rear end. On one of his medium tyre stints, championship leader Max Verstappen could not get his RB19 racer to hit the apex at turn 13 and then rattled out of the exit as the Dutchman lit up the rears.

His team-mate Sergio Perez, also struggled with a nervous RB19 and complained: “in every braking zone, I feel like I’m going to crash”, but the Mexican managed to outpace his two-time world champion team-mate in seventh.

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas completed the top ten.

Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg ended Free Practice Two outside the top 10 in 11th place and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson who was 12th, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who came 13th in the pile and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who takes 14th.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri placed 15th and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who took 16th in the order and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who came 17th in the classification.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished the day a low 18th and ahead of Williams pairing Logan Sargeant and Alexander Albon who brought up the rear with the latter ending his FP2 session short due to a power-unit issue.

You can see the full Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2023 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1219/singapore/practice-2.html

#SingaporeGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc heads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

#F1 Singapore Airlines #SingaporeGP 2023 Preview. #Formula1 #SingaporeGrandPrix