Lando Norris was happy to finish at the top of the timesheets after Friday's practice sessions for the Singapore Grand Prix, but was wary about the threat posed by Charles Leclerc and Ferrari.
Leclerc topped the first practice by 0.076s from Norris, but the McLaren driver got the upper hand and finished 0.058s ahead of the Monegasque in the nighttime session. The pair were over half a second ahead of the rest of the field.
"Pace is good," Norris acknowledged talking with the media in the paddock afterward. "I’m feeling good. It was a nice lap. I think we’re doing what we expect, I guess, to be up at the front and to be there with Ferrari."
But Norris had been hoping that he would have a greater advantage over Leclerc than that, and the closeness of the results meant that he would have his hands full with the Ferrari in tomorrow's qualifying session.
"It was a very nice lap but Charles is only [0.058s] behind," he said. I was hoping to have a much bigger gap than what I had, honestly, which means they’re quick. It means Ferrari are very, very fast
“Charles is very good at street circuits," Norris pointed out. "We’ve seen in Baku, we’ve seen in Monaco what he’s capable of doing,
":I’m sure he’s probably quite happy with his lap," Norris suggested. "If he wasn’t happy with his lap, I’m quite worried for tomorrow!"
On the positive side, the McLaren had hit the ground running at Marina Bay without lengthy set-up work. "Actually that was my first comment to the whole team – it just felt good straight away," he concurred.
“To be honest, I think we’re always pretty good at that," he continued. "I think one of our strengths is just arriving and performing well.
"But then we tend not to progress as much as some of the other teams," he admitted. "So we’ll see, it’s going to be close but I think we’re in a decent position. But things are going well so far.
“It was a nice lap from me, there's not a lot more in it, honestly. I felt like I got a lot out of Friday. Normally I prefer not being so good and then always having a bit extra going into Saturday!
“I feel like there’s not a lot we can change to be honest," he said. "But just trying to perfect a little bit, try and iron out a couple of little things and push it in a slightly quicker direction. That's all we can do.”
"A good start to the weekend, I think we’re in a good place, and if we can keep it up then I’ll be happy.”
Last week it was Oscar Piastri who had the edge when it came to the two McLaren drivers. And he's not far behind this time, finishing both sessions in the top six, albeit six or seven tenths behind Norris.
His day had got o less than perfect start when a rear-left tyre got stuck as the team prepared him to head out for the first time in FP1, but he didn't think it had been a big deal.
“It wasn’t an ideal start to the day, but I don’t think it’s really impacted much," he commented. "It’s been a difficult day, definitely, but I don’t think it was down to that.
“Just struggled to find a rhythm, really," he explained. "The pace of the car looks strong, I've just not really been able to unlock it that well. There’s definitely some things to go into tonight.”
“I’m just not very comfortable with it at the moment, for whatever reason,” he shrugged.. “I didn’t feel my lap was great, but I haven’t felt that many of the laps have been great.
“Just need to try and find a little bit more, try and get a bit more comfortable with the car I think is probably the first thing, and then really try and find the limit from there.
"Some things to work on," he concluded. "Our pace looks not too ba. We’re still somewhere towards the front, but obviously the gap to Lando is bigger than what it should be. Just need to try and find a bit more.”
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