Singapore GP: Norris pips Leclerc and Sainz in floodlit FP2

McLaren's Lando Norris went one better than FP1 by finishing top of the timing screens for second practice at Marina Bay, setting a best lap time of 1:30.727s under the powerful floodlights.

Norris was just 0.058s quicker than Charles Leclerc, whose Ferrari team mate was third but over half a second slower than the lead pair. RB proved unexpectedly fast, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo in P4 and P6 straddling Oscar Piastri.

Less happy with the evening were Mercedes and Red Bull. George Russell was P7 but hit the barrier at the end of the hour, while Lewis Hamilton was complaining in P11 and Max Verstappen's pace looked certifiably sickly in P15.

• 2024 Singapore Grand Prix - Free Practice 2 results

Night had fallen in Singapore since Charles Leclerc came top at end of first practice, meaning that FP2 was held in conditions much closer to those the drivers will encounter in qualifying tomorrow and in Sunday's race. As a result, it would be possible to get a more useful insight into how all the teams compared on the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

First out on mediums were the Saubers of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, followed by RB's Yuki Tsunoda and then in rapid succession by Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon. Before long the circuit was in full flood. Leclerc soon retook his position at the top of the timing screens for Ferrari, with Lando Norris quick to go back into second just as he had in the first session. He was displaced in turn by Albon, Williams flying once again just a week after their surprise success in Baku.

But these were early runs. Soon it was Ricciardo briefly on top before he was displaced in turn by Carlos Sainz with a time of 1:32.644s to go 0.008s ahead of the RB, before Leclerc came back with a slightly faster riposte. Max Verstappen's own push lap ended up with the Red Bull taking the run-off at turn 7 after getting unsettled by the high kerbing.

Albon briefly claimed back the top spot with a new effort clocking in at 1:32.238s. Back in pit lane there was a slight embarrassment for his fledgling team mate Franco Colapinto who managed to duck into the wrong pit stall, mistaking the Alpine garage for that of Williams due a similarity in the liveries under the artificial light. No harm done, but the crew is unlikely to let him live it down this weekend.

After 20 minutes Leclerc was back on top having found six tenths on Albon with his latest. Sainz slotted into the gap in second. Cars then started switching to the soft compound which enabled Albon to leap ahead again, but his new benchmark time of 1:31.650s was only 0.015s ahead of Leclerc's on the mediums. More soft tyre laps ensued with Russell going top, then Piastri, and finally Norris who produced a huge gain of 0.747s over his team mate's equivalent effort.

The RB continued to look perky this week, Tsunoda taking up residence in third just ahead of Ricciardo. On the other hand, Mercedes looked distinctly less happy - Russell in sixth but visibly struggling and sliding all over the place, and Hamilton back in to pit lane for a set-up change in a desperate bid to improve the feeling of his car.

Leclerc was on softs and back in action to go second, a mere 0.058s off Norris. More soft-shod qualifying laps followed from Sainz, Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso, with Sainz moving up to third but Perez only eighth and Alonso 12th. By the half hour mark everyone had at least one push lap under their belt. While some were going for seconds there was also a gradual return to mediums to focus on race distance data.

Norris' 1:30.727s remained narrowly ahead of Leclerc and then there was a big gap back to Sainz, Tsunoda, Piastri, Ricciardo, Russell, Perez, Albon and Nico Hulkenberg. Hamilton toiled to P11 ahead of Alonso, and not happy: "That's unbelievable," he grumbled over the team radio. It was still better than Verstappen who remained mired in 15th ahead of Colapinto.

"The race runs have just started, so it's too early to know if we have the same pace as we have on the short runs," RB boss Laurent Mekies explained on the TV coverage. "The short runs look good, but it is only FP2.

"The balance was in the right window straight away in FP1, but at tracks like this with high evolution, you can't leave the car where it is, you have to anticipate the track evolution. It's in the sweet spot right now."

Norris might have been on top, but he had also been in the wars when he kissed the wall. It was enough to rattle the driver in the cockpit and to prompt him to ask the team to check the telemetry for damage, but the engineers didn't seem concerned. There was no visible damage to the MCL38 as it headed back to pit lane at the end of its soft stint.

The incident didn't temper Norris' enthusiasm, and he subsequently ended up kicking up dust and taking to the escape road after getting delayed by a slow Sauber in the closing moments of the session. Piastri also kissed the wall and headed back to pit lane for a once-over, but was quickly ushered back out.

There was a much bigger hit for Russell, who locked up and had no time to avoid going straight on into the barrier at turn 8. He was eventually able to get back underway, but left the car's front wing on the track as he reversed away which meant the session ended slightly prematurely. The rest of the drivers only had time for a few practice starts before the chequered flag called an end to play for the night.

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