F1 – Norris takes over at the top in Singapore ahead of Leclerc as Russell crashes and Verstappen finishes 15th

Lando Norris went quickest in the first representative practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix, beating Charles Leclerc by the narrow margin of 0.058s as Mercedes George Russell hit the barriers late in the session and championship leader Max Verstappen finished a lowly 14^th. 

In the first minutes of the night session, run in similar conditions to those that will prevail in qualifying and the race, Williams’ Alex Albon set the pace with a lap of 1:33.632 on Medium tyres. Leclerc then jumped to the top of the times with a lap of 1:32.788 with mediums, 0.8s ahead of Norris and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. Albon then popped in a time of 1:32.996 to move up to second, 0.2s off Leclerc. 

Norris was finding more time on Hard tyres and he rose above both thanks to a lap of 1:32.675. He was eclipsed, however, by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz whose time of 1:32.644 took him to the top of the timesheet ahead of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo, with both on Medium tyres. Leclerc then reclaimed P1 a little under two hundredths of a second ahead of his team-mate. Albon, though, was getting into a groove and as the first quarter of the session elapsed, he rose back to P1 with a Medium-tyre time of 1:32.238. 

Just shy of the 20-minute mark Leclerc vaulted back to the top of the timesheet with a time of 1:31.665, half a second clear of the Williams driver. Leclerc was then followed by team-mate Sainz, on Mediums, who cleared Albon by three tenths to take up residence in P2. Albon then switched to Soft compound tyres and with his first run the Thai driver climbed back to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:31.650, just 0.015s ahead of Leclerc.

The bulk of the field also made the switch to Softs and Norris powered to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:30.727. Leclerc was also gaining for the move to the C5 tyres but his run was just a shade slower than Norris and he slotted into P2, 0.087s behind the McLaren driver, with the pair around seven tenths of a second ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda. Sainz then put in his first Soft tyre flyer and though he bypassed the Japanese driver it was only by a tenth of a second. 

Norris also went for another run but this time his lap wasn’t as successful. The Briton went slightly wide in Turn 4 and he was quickly on the radio reporting that he had “hit the wall pretty hard”. 

Further back, Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen was struggling, with the Dutchman 1.2s off the pace and down in P14 after his first run on Softs, Team-mate Sergio Pérez looked more comfortable, with the Mexican in P8, 0.8s off the pace, but neither Red Bull looked comfortable. 

“I have no grip in the low speed, front and rear,” lamented Verstappen over team radio. 

The Dutchman went out again, but he was soon back in the pits where he abandoned Soft tyres running and emerged on Hard compound Pirellis for the remainder of the session. 

Verstappen’s move back to harder compound tyres was then matched by the rest of the field, though the bulk opted for Mediums for their late longer runs. 

The only incident of the final third of the session came in the final minutes when Mercedes’ George Russell locked up into Turn 8 and he slid nose-first into barriers. 

Norris, then, kept hold of top spot ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz, with Tsunoda a positive fourth for RB who also had Daniel Ricciardo in P6, just 0.004s behind fifth-placed Oscar Piastri. George Russell took seventh place for Mercedes, with Pérez in eighth ahead of Albon, and the final top 10 place was taken by Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg who was 0.940s off the pace and 0.042s ahead of Lewis Hamilton who branded the pace of his Mercedes as “unbelievable” and that he had “no rear end and massive understeer”.

Fernando Alonso ended the session in P12, with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen 13^th ahead of the second Aston of Stroll. Verstappen, meanwhile, ended the first night session of the weekend in 15^th place, 1.294s off Norris and 0.423 off his team-mate, Pérez.

2024 FIA Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:30.727 27 196.016
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:30.785 0.058 28 195.891
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:31.356 0.629 27 194.667
4 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:31.468 0.741 28 194.428
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:31.474 0.747 27 194.415
6 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:31.478 0.751 26 194.407
7 George Russell Mercedes 1:31.488 0.761 25 194.386
8 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:31.598 0.871 25 194.152
9 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:31.650 0.923 26 194.042
10 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:31.667 0.940 26 194.006
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.709 0.982 24 193.917
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:31.750 1.023 25 193.831
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:31.793 1.066 26 193.740
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:31.957 1.230 25 193.394
15 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:32.021 1.294 24 193.260
16 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 1:32.057 1.330 26 193.184
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:32.119 1.392 27 193.054
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:32.222 1.495 27 192.839
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:32.359 1.632 26 192.552
20 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:32.786 2.059 26 191.666