McLaren and Ferrari’s practice pace leaves closest rivals perplexed · RaceFans

McLaren and Ferrari, two of the biggest names in Formula 1 and world motorsport, have a storied rivalry between each other that goes back over thirty years.

But for the last decade, two of F1’s most successful teams have had to watch as both Mercedes and Red Bull – two constructors who did not exist in those forms just 20 years ago – have taken turns dominating the sport and fighting against each other for the number one spot.

Since the summer break, however, neither Red Bull or Mercedes have had a victory, pole position or even a fastest lap over those three rounds. Instead, the old enemies have jealously hoarded first position between themselves. And based on what was shown in Friday practice at Marina Bay, it’s looking like they will do so again in Singapore.

Under the lights in the night time second practice session, Lando Norris put McLaren on top. His 1’30.727 was a statement of intent for the new championship leaders. Not only was he seventh tenths faster than his team mate, Oscar Piastri, he was just as far ahead of George Russell in the quickest Mercedes with Sergio Perez a further tenth adrift in the fastest Red Bull.

After the tense, multi-team battles towards the front over recent rounds, it was no wonder McLaren’s rivals seemed rattled. Max Verstappen, who ended the day down in 15th position, admitted he was “surprised” by how far off the ultimate pace he and his team were, even despite the regular complaints he has had about the tempestuous handling of his RB20 in recent rounds.

Even Mercedes admitted that it was “one of the trickier Fridays of the year” for the team, with Russell and Lewis Hamilton only seventh and 11th, respectively – far from the sharp end where they often appeared through the summer.

Norris, who is looking to take the biggest chunk of points out of Verstappen’s championship lead yet since McLaren’s rise to the front of the field, was encouraged by how McLaren were quick ‘out of the box’ on Friday.

“My first comment to our whole team was it just felt good straight away,” he told the official F1 channel.

“To be honest, I think we’re always pretty good at that. I think one of our strengths is just arriving and performing well, but then we tend not to progress as much as some of the other teams.”

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But, once again, Ferrari managed to keep pace with Norris and McLaren. Charles Leclerc matched Norris with a 1’30.7 on his second push lap on soft tyres, while team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr backed up his team mate’s performance with the third-fastest time – albeit six tenths off the best of Norris.

“It felt good, but there’s still some work to be done,” Leclerc said. “The car didn’t exactly feel like I wanted, so we still have to try and improve it.”

However, it might not be as close between the two old rivals as it appears. Norris still seems to time left on the table compared to Leclerc on his best lap. The McLaren driver was over a tenth of a second up on the Ferrari approaching the final major braking zone of the lap at turn 16 but lost all that time from the apex of the right hander all the way to the finish line as Leclerc carried more speed from the exit to the line. As happy as Norris is with his lap, it looks like there is a clear way for him to find more time heading into qualifying.

Having taken pole last weekend in Baku by a considerable margin and pole at two of the ‘true’ street circuits on the calendar so far this season, there is surely more to come from Leclerc too heading into Saturday. However, Leclerc himself does not expect him and Norris to be so far ahead of their team mates and rivals when the lap times matter most.

“I think we are in the mix,” Leclerc said. “I just hope the picture doesn’t change much for tomorrow.

“I would be very surprised if we have the same advantage as we had today – the same gap from me to the third place. I really believe that everybody will be much closer tomorrow and it will be much tighter. So then we will have to understand whether it changes the pecking order or not.”

While the battle between McLaren and Ferrari will likely determine who is on pole, there are some wildcards to take into considering heading into qualifying.

Both RB drivers were comfortably in the top ten in both sessions. Indeed, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were inside the top six in the second session, faster than the pair of Red Bull drivers. Ricciardo was bullish about the team’s prospects heading into Saturday.

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“We’re happy with the car,” he said. “There’s always some fine-tuning to do, but it was nice to see ourselves in good points scoring positions today.

“We have a decent package here and look competitive. I had a lot of grip today, and the circuit was really fun to drive. Hopefully our pace remains tomorrow going into qualifying.”

After a double top 10 finish last weekend gave Williams their best points haul in a single round for three years, Alexander Albon was in the top ten for both Friday sessions with his team’s revised suspension and even sat atop the times at multiple points over the two hours. Most encouragingly for his team, Albon believes there is plenty more time for him to find over the final two days.

“To be honest, the car doesn’t feel amazing, but I think that’s good because it means we have more lap time to find,” he said. “With the upgrades, it’s hard to fully delve into them so far in these sessions, however, we’ll look at the data tonight and come back stronger tomorrow.”

Track evolution is likely to be less pronounced than in Baku as, unlike in Azebaijan, the Marina Bay circuit received a pressure-wash cleaning before Friday’s practice. That said, the track was still very dusty when drivers first headed out on track and a monsoonal downpour struck the city less than an hour after the chequered flag flew in the second session.

More rain is scheduled for the morning hours long before final practice, but a lot of the rubber than would have otherwise been built up through Friday may have been lost. Which could make Q1 equally as treacherous as last week proved.

Even though McLaren seem to have the most going for them, coming off the back of a win in Baku and Norris’ pace in practice, team principal Andrea Stella seems convinced that, as ever, it’s not going to be a straightforward weekend at the front for his team.

“It’s difficult to understand the competitiveness situation,” he said. “We see that there’s some midfielders that look to be pretty quick here, so we expect another busy and tight competitive session in qualifying and the race. We will do our best to be as prepared as possible to fight at the front for another positive result.”

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Combined practice times

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