Norris admits to ‘missing all the feelings I had last year’ on ‘difficult’ Friday in Singapore

Lando Norris was left to rue a “difficult” day after Friday’s track action at the Singapore Grand Prix, with the 2024 race winner stating that he is “missing all of the feelings that I had here last year”.

After ending FP1 in sixth place on the timesheets – one position behind McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri – Norris initially set the early pace when the more representative FP2 got underway.

However, a disrupted session followed that featured two red flags as well as an unusual pit lane incident between Norris and Charles Leclerc, with the pair making contact when the Ferrari was released alongside the Briton’s car as they prepared for the action to resume after the second stoppage.

The incident resulted in the McLaren being wheeled back into the team’s garage where the front wing was replaced. While he was able to rejoin the session, Norris ultimately ended the hour in fifth place.

Asked afterwards if the incident with Leclerc – for which Ferrari were later handed a fine of €10,000 following an investigation by the stewards – had affected his running, Norris responded: “No, I mean it cost the team a bit of money, which is a shame.”

Reflecting further on how the balance had felt during the day, the 25-year-old said: “Just a difficult day for me – not feeling too great with the car, missing all of the feelings that I had here last year. Plenty of things to work on. Just a bad day.

“Oscar’s quick. I’ve got nothing to complain about bar just not doing a very good job.”

Having confirmed that he was unable to carry out any heavy fuel running during the interrupted session, Norris was then quizzed on whether he would do this during Saturday’s final practice hour or instead go straight into the Grand Prix.

“Yeah, just wing it and go into the race," the nine-time race winner smiled.

On the other side of the garage, Piastri ended Friday on top by setting the fastest time of 1m 30.174s, leaving the Australian to feel positive about his running during the day.

“I think I found my feet on the medium [tyre] at the end there, and then the soft felt good,” the championship leader explained. “Obviously not much representative race running, but the car’s been in a good place.

“I feel like I’ve learned a lot through today, and that’s the aim of practice so it’s been a good day.”

Pushed on whether the general approach had been to sacrifice the heavy fuel running in order to focus on the medium and soft-shod runs during the latter stages of FP2, Piastri answered: “More or less, I think.

“Here Qualifying is a massive part of the weekend – it’s a massive part everywhere, but I think especially here it’s one of the most important. So you’d rather qualify further up and deal with the unknowns of the race than qualify further back but know exactly what’s going to happen in the race, because it’s not really going to help you.”