Oscar Piastri topped a chaotic second practice at the Singapore Grand Prix as McLaren team-mate Lando Norris was hit by Charles Leclerc in the pit lane.
The session was disrupted by two long red flags after crashes for George Russell and Liam Lawson which led to desperation for the teams to get onto the track, which caused Norris and Leclerc’s bizarre incident which is under investigation.
Norris’ front wing was damaged but McLaren were able to fix it for the British driver to complete a qualifying simulation where he was fifth but 0.483s behind pace-setter Piastri, who leads Norris by 25 points in the Drivers’ Championship.
“[It] cost the team a bit of money, which is a shame,” said Norris, who dominated last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
“Just a difficult day for me, not feeling too great with the car. Missing all of the feelings I had here last year. So plenty of things to work on. Just a bad day.
“Oscar’s quick so I’ve got nothing to complain about bar just not doing a very good job.”
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Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari hits the McLaren of Lando Norris during FP2 at the Singapore GP
Rookie Isack Hadjar continued to impress with second on his first Singapore outing with Max Verstappen in third, just 0.143s off Piastri.
Fernando Alonso was quickest in first practice and showed strong pace again by finishing in fourth, but the messy session makes it hard to get a true read of the pecking order ahead of final practice on Saturday at 10.30am and qualifying at 2pm, live on Sky Sports F1.
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Lando Norris appeared unfazed by his crash with Charles Leclerc, after the two collided in the pit lane following an unsafe release
The Ferraris of Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were ninth and 10th, but the latter’s best lap came on the mediums.
“It has generally been a good day, I have enjoyed driving the car,” said Hamilton.
“Obviously, McLaren’s very fast and getting a clean lap is not easy but I feel like there’s lots of positives to take from today, lots of learnings and quite happy with the progress we’ve made from session to session.”
Ferrari looked competitive earlier on but Russell’s big crash at Turn 16 caused the first disruption and put him out for the rest of the day.
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George Russell was left confused after he took a big hit into the wall during second practice and bringing out the red flag
“A bit of a weird one to be honest. I’m not too sure what happened,” said Russell.
“I braked a bit earlier, went in a bit slower, but lost the rear. Thankfully I went in front-end on and didn’t do too much damage but it was game over. A bit annoying, sorry to the team for that, but better it happened today than tomorrow.”
Only five minutes after the restart, Lawson tagged the concrete wall at Turn 17 which immediately broke the front right corner of his car to cause a second red flag.
About 22 minutes of the one-hour session was lost and although most drivers completed a competitive lap in the closing minutes, the true pace of the cars is unclear.
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Liam Lawson’s second practice finished early after he slammed the Racing Bull into the wall
Piastri: I had a good day | Verstappen feeling ‘very positive’
Piastri comes into Singapore after a nightmare in Baku where he crashed in both qualifying and the race, while also jumping the start.
The Australian was back on form throughout Friday and said he “learned a lot” on a “good day”.
“Here qualifying is a massive part of the weekend. It’s a massive part everywhere but especially here it’s one of the most important so you’d rather qualify further up and deal with the unknown for the race than qualify further back but know exactly what’s going to happen in the race, because it’s not going to help you,” said Piastri.
Singapore is the only destination Verstappen is yet to win at on the F1 calendar but he’s got momentum on his side, having won the last two races.
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Max Verstappen says there’s a big gap between him and the McLarens in the Driver’s Championship and that he’s not really thinking about the title
The Dutchman said his team need to “optimise a bit more” to fight for pole position against the McLarens.
“That’s definitely very positive,” said Verstappen on Red Bull hitting the ground running faster than previous Singapore race weekends.
“Still a few things we want to do better but it’s not like we have to throw around the set-up completely, so that’s a good thing. We will see. Is it going to be good enough to fight up the front? I don’t know.
“I always find FP2 is a bit difficult to say with what people are running engine modes, top-speed wise. I guess we’ll see in qualifying.”
Sky Sports F1’s Singapore GP schedule
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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments to have taken place at the Singapore Grand Prix
Saturday October 4
7.55am: F1 Academy Race 1
10.15am: Singapore Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 10.30am)
1pm: Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying build-up
2pm: SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*
4pm: Ted’s Quali Notebook
Sunday October 5
8.20am: F1 Academy Race 2
11.30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Singapore GP build-up
1pm: THE SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX
3pm: Chequered Flag: Singapore GP reaction
4pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
The 2025 Formula 1 title fight continues under the lights at the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
