Ferrari is a candidate to be a protagonist in the Singapore GP. Carlos Sainz was the fastest in the second night session in Marina Bay: the Spaniard with soft tires reached 1’42 “587 and left his teammate at 208 thousandths. The Monegasque, indeed, had amazed with the medium tires, arriving just 295 thousandths from the momentary time trial of the Madrid rider and then he tried his hand at a single lap with a front that was too loaded and, when he wanted to try a second run with a lighter wing, he took the flag.
Charles waited to enter the track because the mechanics had to complete a setup change, raising the red to avoid the splitter’s bulges on the bumps. The red appeared in good shape even if the expected new fund was not seen. The race pace to which Sainz dedicated himself with a medium train also seemed positive.
The Scuderia found in Singapore an ideal terrain for the characteristics of the F1-75 by exploiting its traction qualities. Behind the reds there is a George Russell in great shape: the Englishman with a 1’42 “911 is third with a gap of only three tenths, testifying that the W13s can be competitive on the 5 km of the Marina Bay city track.
Lewis Hamilton, after the best time signed in the first round, settled in fifth position adding a gap almost double that of the youngest teammate. Between the two silver arrows is Max Verstappen: the world champion only made one attempt on the red tires without finding a clean lap. Max did only 8 laps (he is the driver who did the least road) because Milton Keynes engineers worked hard on the front suspension adjustments, replacing parts like the third element that are not usual over the course of a shift.
One fact is certain: Verstappen did not have a duration in the afternoon, confirming that Red Bull are working to prepare for qualifying, in the awareness of how important it is to start from the front on a track where overtaking is very difficult.
Setup changes also for Sergio Perez who is anything but at ease on the RB18: the Mexican finished ninth with a one-second dust from the captain. Definitely too much: Red Bull has not yet found the right place, but be careful to give it as a joke after free practice on Friday.
Esteban Ocon confirms himself as the first of the others in sixth place with the Alpine responding well with the latest changes to the fund. The Frenchman is followed less than a tenth by Fernando Alonso, eighth even after a crawl on the wall, while Valtteri Bottas slipped between the two A522s with Alfa Romeo. The Finn seems to have found the development thread of the C42, while Guanyu Zhou was satisfied with the 15th place.
The top 10 is completed by Lance Stroll with Aston Martin: the Camadian does not seem to have suffered from the swipe on the wall in the first round, leaving Sebastian Vettel in 12th place. Lando Norris slipped into the sandwich of the AMR22 with the McLaren MCL36 evolved in the bellies and in the bottom. The feeling is that the Woking team expected something more from a substantial novelty package. Daniel Ricciardo disappoints 18th with the standard papaya car.
Kevin Magnussen is 13th and does his part with Haas, while Mick Schumacher only precedes Nicholas Latifi, last with Williams: they are the two drivers who seem destined to leave F1 at the end of the year. Nicholas has already announced it, Mick is realizing it …
Pierre Gasly is 14th with the modified AlphaTauri in the front: the transalpine suffered a fire while the AT03 was put in the garage. The flames were extinguished abruptly and Pierre was able to get back on track after the repairs of the case. Yuki Tsunoda did not shine, 17th: the Japanese also had a power problem.
Alex Albon with the best Williams is 16th: his recovery was good after the appendicitis that had forced him to miss the Italian GP.
#Singapore #Free #Practice #Ferraris #front