Carlos Sainz secured the best time in the second free practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver mastered the Marina Bay Street Circuit under floodlights in 1:42.587 minutes and relegated his teammates Charles Leclerc (+0.208) and George Russell (Mercedes / +0.324) to places.
But interpreting the lap times is difficult after two hours of training. One thing seems clear: as expected, Russell and his Mercedes team are closer than last time. “It wasn’t the first lap, it wasn’t a clean lap,” says “ORF” expert Alexander Wurz about Russell’s third-best time. “The right bar is missing today. That would be Verstappen.”
The defending champion, whose Red Bull team was also a big topic on Friday because of an alleged violation of the financial rules of Formula 1 in the 2021 season, went late in the hunt for times. 15 driving seconds before the end of his lap he was still on course for the best time; in the end, however, he was 0.339 seconds short and finished fourth.
Interesting that this time, in addition to the top 4, four other drivers were less than a second behind the best time: Lewis Hamilton (5th/Mercedes/+0.595), Esteban Ocon (Alpine/+0.825), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo/+ 0.844) and Fernando Alonso (Alpine/+0.933).
Fire alarm at AlphaTauri
Sainz’ best time also lasted because others made mistakes. Leclerc, for example, had to remain in the pits for a long time after a problem and when he came out again towards the end, he was setting personal bests in the first and second sectors, but it was no longer enough for the very front. And Verstappen’s final attack wasn’t flawless either.
A spectacular scene occurred at AlphaTauri on Friday evening. Pierre Gasly (14./+1.882) had just returned to the pits when the airbox area started to burn. While his own crew was still looking for a fire extinguisher, a mechanic from neighboring Aston Martin rushed over and put things right. In the end, nothing happened.