2024 F1 Round 18, Singapore Grand Prix FP2: Norris tops the times with a 1:30.727, Yuki Tsunoda fourth, Verstappen only 15th

On the evening of 20 September (China Standard Time, UTC+8), Friday’s second practice session for the 2024 F1 Singapore Grand Prix came to an end. Norris topped the times with a 1:30.727, and Leclerc followed just 0.058 seconds behind; RB continued its strong form as Yuki Tsunoda moved up to fourth, while Verstappen languished in 15th.

With 18 minutes remaining, Norris brushed the wall at the exit of Turn 3. Fortunately, the damage was minor, and the McLaren driver immediately improved his best time of the weekend by a full second. Leclerc lightly touched the wall at the exit of Turn 14 on his fastest lap, leaving him 0.058 seconds off the lead. However, the 0.629-second gulf between Norris and third-placed Sainz made the gap between the leading pair and the chasing pack plain to see.

Tsunoda, fifth in the daytime session, found more pace to edge Piastri by just 0.006 seconds and move up to fourth. Ricciardo, who is rumoured to be losing his seat after the Singapore Grand Prix, was also in fine form—he had topped the times on medium tyres in the opening 10 minutes and, after switching to softs, finished sixth, 0.010 seconds behind his team-mate. Will history repeat itself? Red Bull’s sister team, running the same Honda RBPT power unit, was showing strong form, yet Red Bull was once again a step off the pace at Marina Bay, the scene of its only defeat last year.

Verstappen, whose radio push-to-talk button became stuck on his very first out-lap, complained throughout the session about a lack of front and rear grip in low-speed corners and eventually finished only 15th, 1.3 seconds off the lead. Team-mate Pérez was shown the black-and-white flag for running over the line at pit exit, then edged Albon by 0.052 seconds to finish eighth, but he was not at all happy with the car.

Elsewhere, Russell hit the wall at Turn 8 with two minutes remaining, damaging his front wing and nose cone. Fortunately, he was able to reverse and return to the pits under his own power without bringing out a red flag, and finished seventh; Hamilton complained of a lack of rear traction and ended the session 11th, 0.2 seconds behind his team-mate, exclaiming “Unbelievable”; Colapinto mistakenly pulled into the neighbouring Alpine pit box when pitting—a repeat of Hamilton’s blunder when he first joined Mercedes 11 years ago—and ultimately finished 16th. However, fuel loads make a huge difference at Marina Bay, and differences in fuel load and engine modes mean the order behind fourth-placed Tsunoda could easily be reshuffled in qualifying.

The third practice session will take place on the afternoon of 21 September (China Standard Time, UTC+8).