Kimi Raikkonen was left to lead Ferrari’s charge in second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix as Sebastian Vettel clipped the wall during his qualifying simulation.
As all the top teams switched to the Hypersoft tyre and got down to some serious running under the lights, a very close battle between the Scuderia and Mercedes is emerging as the Finn beat Lewis Hamilton by just 0.011s with a 1m38.699s.
Vettel was set to add his name into the mix, leading few by a few hundredths through the first two sectors, but would run wide exiting Turn 21 and just hit the wall causing sparks and seemingly dislodging part of the radiator system with liquid dripping from his car upon a hasty return to the pits.
Despite the minor contact, the damage was enough for him to miss the rest of the session, leaving Raikkonen to conduct Ferrari’s only race simulation in the final half an hour.
After leading the first practice through Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull didn’t appear to have the pace when their rivals turned up their engines with Max Verstappen half a second down in third, just ahead of his Australian teammate.
Minor reliability problems did hinder the Dutchman with an oil leak early in the session before later complains of hesitations from the engine when applying the throttle.
Valtteri Bottas’ struggles continued as he sat fifth in the second Mercedes, six-tenths off the pace of Hamilton and with plenty of work to do if he wants to be a ‘wingman’ once again.
Renault remained the top midfield team thanks to Carlos Sainz in sixth, just ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Haas and the man he’ll be replacing next season, Fernando Alonso who was eighth for McLaren.
Vettel’s best time left him ninth and actually came after a close moment with Hamilton as the pair ran along Esplanade Drive and the Briton narrowly avoided hitting his championship rival after locking up for Turn 14.
Both would continue as Lewis reversed from the escape road but he would flat-spot his Ultrasoft tyres in the process.
Nico Hulkenberg ensured both Renault’s stayed in the top 10 in P10.
Force India and Sauber are fighting will be looking to make the jump into the would-be Q3 places in qualifying as Sergio Perez finished 11th ahead of Marcus Ericsson, who narrowly avoided the wall and Alonso after spinning at Turn 5 in the closing minutes.
Esteban Ocon followed in 13th with Charles Leclerc looking to rebuild his confidence in the second session after hitting the wall coming off the Anderson Bridge in Practice 1.
Towards the back, Toro Rosso continued to struggle in 17th and 18th with only the two Williams’ behind as Lance Stroll, despite seeing his right-rear brake catch fire, led teammate Sergey Sirotkin.
The full results of Practice 2 can be seen below:
