FP2: Norris edges out Leclerc as Russell crashes during second practice in Singapore

McLaren driver Lando Norris led the way from Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc during Friday’s second practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix, with the action coming to an end when George Russell’s Mercedes hit the wall late on.

After a twilight opening practice session, the sun set at Marina Bay and the floodlights took over around the circuit ahead of FP2, which would give the drivers and teams another hour to set up their cars for the weekend ahead.

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An opening phase on the medium and hard tyres saw the Ferraris form a provisional one-two thanks to a 1m 31.655s from Leclerc and a time three-tenths slower from Sainz, followed by Williams racer Alex Albon, Russell and the RBs of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.

Then, around 20 minutes in, drivers began to move to the soft rubber for some qualifying-style simulations, with Albon among the first to do so and taking over at the top of the timesheets, albeit only 0.015s faster than Leclerc’s effort on mediums.

When the rest of the times came in, it was Norris who held P1 on a 1m 30.727s, putting him just under a tenth clear of Leclerc, who reported that he touched the wall at the exit of Turn 14 and asked Ferrari to check the data for any damage.

Sainz backed up team mate Leclerc in a distant third, with Tsunoda and Ricciardo sandwiching the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri, and Russell leading the Mercedes charge in seventh despite losing his front wing when he crashed at Turn 8 in the closing minutes.

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Azerbaijan race winner Piastri came close to some drama when he ran wide at Turn 7 during his soft tyre run and then thumped the wall at Turn 17, with team mate Norris also brushing the concrete barrier exiting Turn 3 and taking to an escape road to avoid traffic.

Sergio Perez was the fastest of the Red Bulls in eighth, reporting an “all over the place” car balance after being given a black and white flag for crossing the white line at the pit exit to avoid a slow-moving Aston Martin, while team mate Max Verstappen featured back in 15th.

Verstappen, who entered the session having been punished by the FIA for swearing in Thursday’s press conference, wound up 1.2 seconds off the pace, behind a group including Albon, Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton and the Haas and Aston Martin cars.

Hamilton was another to experience a challenging session, reporting “no rear end” and “massive understeer” early in the hour and replying “it’s unbelievable” when told over the radio that his soft-shod lap had only put him 11th, between Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.

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Franco Colapinto – who mistakenly stopped at the wrong pit box when returning from a run – finished 16th in the second of the Williams machines, as the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly and the Kick Saubers of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas brought up the rear.

Drivers and teams will now regroup in the paddock to dig through the data and prepare for final practice, which is set to begin at 1730 local time on Saturday – ahead of qualifying at 2100.