Ferrari continued to set the pace but it was Carlos Sainz who led Charles Leclerc in Practice 2 at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Leading after the initial runs on medium tyres, the Scuderia were first out for the qualifying sims on soft compound rubber just before the halfway mark.
Leclerc would go fastest but then Sainz went just a little faster, setting a 1m32.120s to beat the Monegasque by just 0.018s under the lights at Marina Bay.
The other big story of FP2 was Red Bull, who struggled for grip on any tyre and ended up down in seventh and eighth, a whopping seven-tenths off the Ferrari pace.
More interestingly, it was Sergio Perez who edged teammate Max Verstappen, albeit after completing a second flying lap a little later than the Dutchman when track conditions were better.
However, much like when Mercedes was dominant in 2015, the Singapore streets could be about to abruptly halt Red Bull’s chance of a perfect season without big gains on Saturday and Sunday.
Behind Ferrari, Mercedes sat third and fifth with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton respectively, either side of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin in fourth.
Lando Norris was sixth in the heavily upgraded McLaren, followed by the two aforementioned Red Bulls in seventh and eighth.
Ferrari leads, Red Bull struggling… Is a Singapore shock on the cards? #F1 #Formula1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/bbpsZS4yfU
— InsideRacing.com (@INSIDERACINGcom) September 15, 2023
Kevin Magnussen, who holds the race lap record at Marina Bay, was ninth for Haas and Valtteri Bottas completed the top 10.
Nico Hulkenberg sat P11 as Liam Lawson was the lead AlphaTauri in 12th. Esteban Ocon was the highest Alpine in 13th, ahead of Lance Stroll, who had an early brush with the barrier at Turn 13.
Oscar Piastri claimed 15th, Yuki Tsunoda was 16th, Zhou Guanyu sat 17th and Pierre Gasly a lowly 18th.
The two Williams’ brought up the field with Logan Sargeant 19th and Alex Albon slowest as a power unit problem limited the Thai driver to just five laps.
