Ferraris fastest again in Singapore FP2, Verstappen only eighth

Ferrari continued to lead the times on Friday at the Singapore Grand Prix as 2023 Formula 1 dominator Max Verstappen was only eighth fastest in FP2.

Key moments:

> Sainz leads Ferrari one-two

> Verstappen only eighth

> Albon loses most of FP2 to PU issue

Carlos Sainz edged out his FP1 pacesetting team-mate Charles Leclerc by just 0.018s to top the second practice session of the weekend.

Sainz’s benchmark was a 1m32.120s which he set halfway through the 60-minute FP2 session on the soft tyres.

Their closest competition wasn’t Verstappen but the Mercedes of George Russell, who ended up 0.235s adrift of Sainz.

Then came the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso who was 0.358s off the pace but a tenth quicker than the second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

Lando Norris was sixth in his upgraded McLaren – the team’s final update of the season, which is only on his car this weekend.

Sergio Perez and Verstappen were only seventh and eighth fastest for Red Bull, with both complaining of balance issues.

Verstappen abandoned his final flying lap on the soft tyres such was his discontent with the balance of his RB19 over a single lap.

Team-mate Perez told his engineer “it’s just not coming mate” and that “the rear is stepping out massively”.

Kevin Magnussen was ninth for Haas – the only team to not declare any new upgrades for this weekend – while Valtteri Bottas put the upgraded Alfa Romeo in 10th place.

Nico Hulkenberg, who last raced in Singapore in 2019, was 11th fastest ahead of AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Lance Stroll was 14th while Oscar Piastri in the older-spec McLaren was 15th.

The Williams cars propped up the order, with Alex Albon not setting a representative time as he spent most of the session in the garage with a power unit issue.

Practice 2 Results