FP2: Piastri sets the pace in disrupted Singapore second practice amid two red flags and unusual pit lane incident

Oscar Piastri has topped the timesheets during a disrupted Free Practice 2 at the Singapore Grand Prix, the McLaren driver leading the way in a session that featured two red flags and an unusual pit lane incident between Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

After Fernando Alonso emerged as the pacesetter of first practice earlier in the day, it was Piastri who eventually came out on top in a session featuring track conditions more representative of those that can be expected in Qualifying and the Grand Prix.

Nico Hulkenberg led the pack out amid a busy start to the session at 2100 local time, the drivers returning to action in temperatures that had dropped a few degrees since FP1, while the floodlights had also come on at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

One name who was perhaps particularly glad to be back in action was Alex Albon, whose running in the day’s opening practice session had been brought to an early end following a rear brake hardware problem on his Williams.

The rookies looked to be exploring the limits during the early stages of the session, with Gabriel Bortoleto going wide in the Kick Sauber before Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli had a moment. Norris, meanwhile, had set the pace by the first quarter of the session via a time of 1m 31.716s on the medium tyres.

George Russell brought out the yellow flags just a few minutes later, the Silver Arrows driver ending up with a broken front nose on his W16 after hitting the barriers at Turn 16. “That was weird,” he remarked as he returned to the pits, while a red flag was thrown to recover the debris out on track.

While the Mercedes crew got to work as Russell’s car went up on the stands in the garage, the rest of the field waited for the session to resume. And after a few minutes’ wait, FP2 got back underway with just over half an hour remaining on the clock.

With that time having elapsed, several drivers returned to the track with the soft tyres bolted on as they prepared to put some fast laps on the board. The Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc were the exceptions, continuing on the medium rubber, while Haas’ Esteban Ocon slotted into the top of the timesheets on a 1m 31.480s.

However, the action was again brought to a halt shortly afterwards as Liam Lawson hit the wall out of Turn 17, resulting in his damaged Racing Bulls machine coming to a stop at the pit entry. The New Zealander – who had been 12th on the timesheets – was seen walking back to his garage before the recovery process of his stricken car began.

But as a session resumption time was announced, contact occurred between Leclerc and Norris in the pit lane when the Ferrari driver emerged alongside the McLaren, resulting in Norris being wheeled back into the garage to have his front wing replaced after making contact with the pit wall.

“He just drove straight into me,” the Briton reported. It was subsequently confirmed that the incident will be investigated after the session over a potential unsafe release.

Both drivers were able to get back out on track for what would prove to be a busy final segment of FP2 as the pack looked to make up for time lost. And as the final five minutes arrived, Piastri displaced Max Verstappen at the top, the McLaren driver pumping in a time of 1m 30.714s.

During the closing moments – with the majority of drivers running the soft tyres – Isack Hadjar slotted his Racing Bulls into P2, just 0.132s behind Piastri, while Verstappen held onto third ahead of Alonso in fourth.

In another decent showing for Aston Martin, the Spaniard’s team mate Lance Stroll was not far behind in fifth, the duo separated by Norris who sounded somewhat frustrated with himself over the radio towards the end of the hour.

Ocon claimed P7, with the Williams of Sainz and the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Hamilton rounding out the top 10. Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda just missed out in P11, ahead of Haas’ Ollie Bearman (P12), Albon (P13), Hulkenberg (P14) and Bortoleto (P15).

Pierre Gasly was 16th for Alpine, with Lawson, Antonelli, the other Alpine of Franco Colapinto and Russell completing the order between 17th and 20th.

The drivers and teams will now reconvene to examine their data as they prepare for Saturday’s running, with FP3 set to begin at 1730 local time before Qualifying follows at 2100.