Norris and Leclerc well ahead of their rivals in second practice · F1 · RaceFans

Lando Norris went quickest in the second practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix despite brushing the wall on one of his push laps.

The McLaren driver topped the times with a 1’30.727 and was lucky not to damage his car when he hit the wall at the exit of turn three on a flying lap.

Charles Leclerc was half a second slower than Norris’s best, with his Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr third but six tenths off Norris.

The second practice session of the day was the first of the weekend under the flood lights where drivers could get a taste of the conditions they will race in on Sunday. Early on, Carlos Sainz Jnr put his Ferrari quickest of all with a 1’32.644 on medium tyres, before team mate Leclerc pipped him to the top spot by 0.017s.

Williams driver Alexander Albon earned appreciative applause from the mechanics back in the garage as he beat both Ferraris to go quickest of all by three tenths at one stage. Yuki Tsunoda, who had been inside the top five in the first session, also went quicker than the Ferraris to go second, with the hard compound.

Both Ferraris reclaimed the top two positions with a significant improvement on the mediums, before Albon used the soft tyres to go fastest of all again with a 1’31.650. That triggered a string of laps by drivers on the red-walled rubber.

George Russell reported being in ‘limp home’ mode in his Mercedes entering the final sector on his out-lap. However a settings change appeared to fix the problem and allowed him to start his push lap, which he completed to go fastest.

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That was until Norris’s first push lap on the soft tyres saw him post the fastest time of the day with a 1’30.727. It put him a massive seven tenths of a second faster than team mate Oscar Piastri. Leclerc was the only driver able to get close to Norris in second but not able to match the McLaren driver even with two attempts.

Norris’s next attempt at a lap on the softs was ruined when he brushed the wall at the exit of turn three, forcing him to abandon his run. However, after checking the data, McLaren confirmed his car was undamaged and Norris returned to the track.

As usual, the focus was on long runs for the final part of the session. Norris had to take to the escape road to avoid Zhou Guanyu’s Sauber at turn seven, requiring a spin turn. The session ended under a yellow flag when Russell locked up and hit the wall at turn eight, breaking off his front wing, and dragging his damaged car back into the pits.

Norris ended practice fastest ahead of the two Ferraris, with Tsunoda in the top five again in fourth. Piastri was fifth with Daniel Ricciardo sixth. Russell, Perez, Albon and Nico Hulkenberg were the final drivers inside the top ten.