'The pace is in the car' – Leclerc optimistic on Ferrari's chances in Singapore despite 'very messy' FP2

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc admits that his Free Practice 2 running for the Singapore Grand Prix, which included a bizarre pit lane collision with Lando Norris, was "very messy" but he believes "the pace is in the car".

Leclerc finished second fastest in the opening hour of practice on the streets of Baku, just over one-tenth slower than Fernando Alonso, but struggled in FP2 and was left only ninth, more than seven-tenths away from Oscar Piastri.

Leclerc believed that a number of factors contributed to this, including traffic and two stoppages after crashes for George Russell and Liam Lawson.

"Good FP1, very difficult FP2. It's been just a very messy FP2 with the traffic and with the red flags and with the pit lane incident," said Leclerc.

"Lots of things going on which haven't been very positive but we'll reset and come back stronger tomorrow. I think the pace is in the car so that's the good thing."

Leclerc suffered the bizarre collision with Norris as the session resumed following the second red flag and with 15 minutes remaining, as the McLaren driver was let out of his garage before Leclerc was sent into his path in the fast lane.

Leclerc continued unharmed while Norris, who had hit the pit wall, was dragged back for a replacement front wing before resuming, with Ferrari fined €10,000 for the unsafe release.

"Speaking with him [mechanic] I think it was a bit of confusion with the two McLarens going out and it looked like they were going out at the same time," said Leclerc.

"So he thought they would go out a bit slower so I didn't have the message to stop and in these kind of cases you kind of rely on the team.

"But this kind of thing happens. It was also in a tricky moment because with all the red flags, everyone was such in a rush to get out to do some laps. It's a combination of things, it's not something you want but these things happen."

Team mate Lewis Hamilton also endured a difficult second session, finishing 10th having claimed fourth in the earlier outing, but was positive about the general direction Ferrari had taken on Friday.

"I feel like there's lots of positives to take from today, lots of learnings and quite happy with the progress we've made from session to session," he said.

"I've felt like we made steps forward today so I feel like overnight we won't change much, but of course trying to refine the set-up and see if we can extract a little bit more to get as close as we can to the McLarens."