Singapore GP FP2: Norris from Leclerc, Verstappen in trouble
F1 NewsFriday, 20 September 2024 at 16:05
Lando Norris took over the baton from Charles Leclerc and went fastest in FP2 for the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen was nowhere to be found.
As it stands now and unless their rivals, namely Red Bull and Mercedes, find a solution before qualifying, McLaren and Ferrari will only have to worry about each other.
Norris was the fastest, with Leclerc second fastest while Carlos Sainz was third fastest albeit with a quite a gap from the top two.
Yuki Tsunoda was again in good form finishing fourth fastest for VCARB and ahead of Oscar Piastri in fifth, with Daniel Ricciardo following in sixth. The VCARBs seem to be enjoying their new front wing they brought to Singapore.
The Red and Papaya cars were the best around the Marina Bay Circuit, fast on qualifying simulations and also on the long runs, where Norris seems to have the advantage over the Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Red Bull on the other hand struggled massively, defending Formula 1 champion Verstappen 15th fastest, and as it seems, his race pace was no good as well, almost one second off the pace.
Mercedes were no better, Lewis Hamilton not happy with his car posting the 11th best time, while George Russell ended his session the wall at Turn 8, but managed to finish the session seventh fastest ahead of Sergio Perez in eighth.
Alex Albon was a decent ninth with Nico Hulkenberg tenth.
Buildup towards FP2
Ferrari and McLaren had a flying start to their Singapore GP weekend, Leclerc fastest and Norris second fastest by less than a tenth while Red Bull were a bit further behind with Verstappen.
However those who seemed to be in trouble were Mercedes as Hamilton and Russell were languishing outside the top ten, the former vocally about how bad his W15 was during FP1.
However the story coming to Singapore was McLaren trick rear wing that was seen flexing in Baku without the DRS being open, something that made the rival pounce and indeed, the FIA asked McLaren to modify their rear wing, so let's see know if the MCL38 will be impacted.
McLaren commented on the matter in a statement that said: "Whilst our Baku rear wing complies with the regulations and pass all FIA deflection tests, McLaren have proactively offered to make some minor adjustments to the wing following our conversations with the FIA.
"We would also expect the FIA to have similar conversations with other teams in relation to the compliance of their rear wings."
There should be no direct impact this weekend as Singapore is not a high speed circuit but how will the MCL38's top speed be affected in the coming races?
FP2 will be held at a similar time to that of qualifying and the race, so the conditions will be similar which means we could get a better indication of the pace of the cars.
FP2 Session Highlights
The session started under the flood lights with temperatures dropping. Track temperature was 33 degrees while the air temperature was 30 degrees. Humidity was up to 74%.
Verstappen soon said his radio button got stuck while Perez was given a black and white flag. He crossed the white line at pit exit. He came around the corner and found an Aston Martin driving slowly and tried to move around it.
The Medium and Hard tyres were the compounds chosen by the team as FP2 started.
Hamilton's engineer informed him of certain corner where they were struggling with traction, the Briton responding that did not have any rear end.
Verstappen reported: "I have no grip in the low speed front and rear." He then went off track and over the kerbs at Turn 7, but managed to keep going.
Franco Colapinto on the other hand parked his Williams in the wrong spot, at the Alpine pit box in particular. He was greeted by their mechanics and was sent off to Williams' spot.
Perez was not happy with his car as well, his engineer asked him about his latest lap to which he responded: "All over the place."
With a little over 20 minutes passing, the Soft tyres started making an appearance with Williams sending Albon out on the red-walled tyres.
Hamilton, still on Mediums reported: "Massive understeer still." Russell in the other Mercedes said his car went in limp mode. He soon gets running again after changing some settings on his steering wheel.
Replay showed Leclerc brushing the wall at the exit of Turn 14. He'd better leave that stuff till qualifying. Albon did the same.
So did his teammate Colapinto and collected the banner.
Piastri on the other hand bounced hard over the kerb at Turn 7 while Norris soon also kissed the wall at the exit of Turn 3.
A rough one though he radioed: "I hit the wall pretty hard." He went back to the pits.
After suffering from the brakes in FP1, Sainz seemed to have issues in FP2 as well. He told his: "There's something with the brakes that is strange still. I keep locking the front right."
With 14 minutes to go, the drivers set out doing long runs with heavy fuel loads.
Hulkenberg brought out a brief Yellow flag in sector one after understeering into the run-off area at Turn 1. Perez does the same, while Piastri brushes the same banner as Colapinto.
A couple of minutes from the end, Russell ended up in the wall at Turn 8, but managed to reverse out and drove back to the pits missing his front wing.
After the Yellow flag brought out by Russell was removed, drivers did some practice starts to conclude the session.
How they finished
Norris' session-topping lap was a 1:30.727 while Leclerc was just 0.058s behind in second while Sainz was third, 0.629s off the pace.
Tsunoda was fourth, 0.741s slower than Norris' time and 0.006s ahead of Piastri who was fifth.
Ricciardo was sixth in the other VCARB with a 1:31,478, and 0.010s ahead of Russell who was seventh and in turn 0.110s ahead of Perez in eighth.
Albon was ninth, 0.923s down from the top and 0.017s ahead of Hulkenberg who was tenth.
Singapore GP FP2 Classification
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