58 thousandths separate Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. A ballet in an almost perfect symbiosis between the curves of the Marina Bay Street Circuit that led the British driver to conclude the second free practice session with a minimal margin over the Ferrari driver.
The first day of testing in Singapore highlighted Max Verstappen’s main rival for the world title and someone who can be considered one of the best interpreters of street circuits currently in operation.
Carlos Sainz, third, is more than 6 tenths behind Norris: this is the perfect summary of today’s tests. Lando put together a very good lap, as he himself admitted at the end of the session, but this did not scare Leclerc, who is literally on top of him having signed his best time at the second attempt with the same set of Soft tyres.
“I think we are doing the job we need to do to be up there with Ferrari. I think I did a good lap, but Ferrari with Charles is on top of me. I was hoping to have a bigger advantage honestly. Which means they are also fast, but for us things are going well.”
“We know that Charles is very, very strong on street circuits. We saw it in Monte Carlo and Baku, for example. I’m sure he can be happy with his lap, because if he wasn’t I would be very worried.”
Norris is happy, but at the same time he knows that Friday counts for nothing. With Red Bull and Max Verstappen struggling again this weekend, the McLaren driver knows he has another great opportunity to close in on the Dutchman. But if he wants to do so, he will have to have a practically perfect weekend, without any significant or decisive flaws.
“I’m happy with my lap and I think I made the most of today. Normally I prefer to go less well on Friday because then I can have more room for improvement on Saturday. But we started well and if we continue like this then I’ll be happy.”
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