𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Between the two red flags — for session-ending crashes from George Russell and Liam Lawson — and the very strange unsafe release incident with Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris (more on that in a moment), second practice in Singapore wasn’t quite as useful to teams as they may have hoped.

The lack of time to get in some proper long runs left the teams a step behind their typical preparations, with the added challenge being that today’s final remaining practice takes place in different conditions to both qualifying and tomorrow’s race — basically before the sun has gone down in Singapore.

Nevertheless, McLaren will have enjoyed Oscar Piastri topping the session, one-tenth of a second clear of Isack Hadjar who finished a surprise P2 for Racing Bulls.

Max Verstappen got third for Red Bull ahead of Fernando Alonso in fourth, continuing Aston Martin’s solid start to the weekend.

It was a trickier session for Lando Norris, who wound up P5 and was almost half a second off his teammate and title rival. Norris also seemed frustrated late in the session when he was talking to engineer Will Joseph, stating it wasn’t his car that was half a second off his teammate — but his driving.

It was advantage McLaren come the end of Friday in Singapore, but there’s still plenty to play for today.

Top of the time sheet:

• 1: OSCAR PIASTRI (MCL) 1:30.714 — 18 laps
• 2: Isack Hadjar (RB) +0.132 — 18
• 3: Max Verstappen (RBR) +0.143 — 18
• 4: Fernando Alonso (AST) +0.163 — 18
• 5: Lando Norris (MCL) +0.483 — 17