McLaren’s Lando Norris topped the timesheets in Friday’s second practice session for the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, edging out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while the session ended early due to George Russell’s Mercedes hitting the wall in the closing moments.
Following an opening twilight session, the sun had set at Marina Bay, and the circuit was lit up by floodlights as FP2 got underway. The drivers and teams had another hour to fine-tune their setups for the weekend.
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In the initial phase, with drivers on medium and hard tyres, Ferrari secured a provisional one-two, with Leclerc clocking a 1m 31.655s and Sainz trailing by three-tenths. Williams’ Alex Albon, Russell, and RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo followed close behind.
Around 20 minutes in, drivers switched to soft tyres for qualifying-style runs. Albon was among the first to move to softs, briefly taking the top spot by just 0.015s over Leclerc’s earlier medium tyre time.
As the rest of the soft tyre runs came in, it was Norris who claimed P1 with a time of 1m 30.727s, putting him just under a tenth ahead of Leclerc, who reported clipping the wall at Turn 14 and asked Ferrari to check for any potential damage.
Sainz followed his teammate in a distant third, while Tsunoda and Ricciardo slotted in either side of the other McLaren driven by Oscar Piastri. Russell ended the session seventh despite losing his front wing after crashing at Turn 8 in the final minutes.
Piastri had his own brush with drama, running wide at Turn 7 and hitting the wall at Turn 17 during his soft tyre stint. Norris also had a close call, brushing the barrier at Turn 3 and taking to an escape road to avoid traffic.
Sergio Perez, the fastest Red Bull in eighth, struggled with an “all over the place” car balance and received a black and white flag for crossing the pit exit line to avoid a slow Aston Martin. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, finished down in 15th, 1.2 seconds off the pace, following a difficult session.
Lewis Hamilton also had a tough time, reporting “no rear end” and “massive understeer.” Despite switching to softs, he only managed 11th, sandwiched between Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso, responding with frustration when informed of his lap time.
Franco Colapinto finished 16th in his Williams after mistakenly stopping at the wrong pit box, while the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, along with the Kick Saubers of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, rounded off the field.
Singapore GP FP2 Results
2024 Singapore Grand Prix FP2, 20 September 2024
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