Singapore GP: Sainz leads as rivals compromised in Practice 2

Carlos Sainz led a Ferrari one-two under the lights in Practice 2 at the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday.

As many of the leading drivers had a disrupted session, the Spaniard’s running was smooth as he posted a 1m42.587s to lead teammate Charles Leclerc by 0.2s.

The Monegasque though only managed a handful of timed laps as he missed the opening half-hour due to Ferrari completing work on his car.

Mercedes continued to look competitive with George Russell third and Lewis Hamilton fifth, but traffic and small errors for both drivers prevented them from posting laps when the tyres were at their best.

Fourth-placed Max Verstappen only managed a session-low of eight laps, and one run on the soft tyres, as Red Bull worked on setup changes to his RB18. While teammate Sergio Perez also lacked laps and a representative time in ninth.

In the midfield, Alpine look strong with Esteban Ocon sixth and two-time Singapore winner Fernando Alonso eighth.

Valtteri Bottas put in a strong lap to split the blue cars in seventh, with Lance Stroll completing the top 10 for Aston Martin.

On a circuit perhaps expected to suit their car better than most, McLaren continues to lag as Lando Norris was only 11th and Daniel Ricciardo a dismal 18th, almost 1.5s slower than his teammate.

AlphaTauri also had problems with Yuki Tsunoda’s session ended early with a fuel system issue, while there was a dramatic moment for Pierre Gasly as a fire broke out in his airbox after returning to the pits.

Later it was confirmed the fire was caused when the team connected the fuel breather which likely ignited some vapour in the system.

Alex Albon was 16th as there continued to be no ill effects upon his return from the health scare he suffered at Monza.

Mick Schumacher was 1.2s slower than Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen in 19th and Nicholas Latifi brought up the field.

Full results from FP2 can be seen below: