Norris was “hoping to have much bigger gap” to Ferrari on Friday · RaceFans

Lando Norris says he was “feeling good” after being fastest on Friday in Singapore but is wary of the pace of the Ferraris behind him.

The McLaren driver set the pace in the first day of practice around the Marina Bay circuit, but was only half a tenth quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Norris touched the wall at the exit of turn three on one of his flying laps but sustained no damage. He said he was happy with the performance and feeling in his car on Friday, but admitted he hoped to have been further ahead of his rivals after the first day of running in the weekend.

“The pace is good. I’m feeling good. It was also a nice lap,” Norris told the official F1 channel. “I think we’re doing what we expected, I guess, to be up at the front and to be up with the Ferrari.

“But it was a very nice lap and Charles is only like [0.058 seconds] behind, so I was hoping to have a much bigger gap than what I had, honestly. Which means they’re quick – means Ferrari are very, very fast. But things are going well, so far.”

Norris hopes that he can find more time heading into qualifying than the Ferraris, otherwise McLaren – who took the lead of the constructors’ championship last weekend in Baku – may face heavy competition over the rest of the weekend.

“Charles is very good at street circuits. We’ve seen in Baku and we’ve seen in Monaco what he’s capable of doing,” he said. “I’m sure he’s probably quite happy with his lap. If he wasn’t happy with his lap, I’m quite worried for us tomorrow.

“It was a nice lap for me. Not a lot more in it, honestly, so I felt like I got a lot out of Friday. But normally I prefer not being so good and then almost having a bit extra going into Saturday. But 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.”

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