Singapore GP: Carlos Sainz tops practice to seal Ferrari's clean sweep
Sep 15, 2023
Singapore, September 15 : Carlos Sainz led the way in the second practice session at Marina Bay, narrowly topping the timesheets ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc and rival Mercedes' George Russell. It was a Ferrari clean sweep on the opening day of racing in Singapore.
After the sun had gone and the lights were turned on, the drivers returned for a second practice to find that the course was in much more resemblance to the conditions they would encounter in qualifying and the race on Sunday.
As in FP1, a variety of tyre compounds were used to start the practice, but this time, more drivers used a set of medium tyres than a set of hard ones since the teams wanted to collect as much data as they could under these circumstances.
But Alex Albon was one driver who was unable to learn as much as he would have liked under the lights. Williams was forced to pit the FW45 after the Thai driver complained about a loss of power and engine issues.
Sainz beat Leclerc by barely 0.018 seconds in the intra-team race, setting a timing of 1 minute, 32.120 seconds. Just over two-tenths of a second behind Sainz, Russell finished third for Mercedes.
In Singapore, Lewis Hamilton, another multiple-time champion, finished fourth, ahead of Fernando Alonso for Aston Martin. As he placed sixth fastest, Lando Norris continued to push his improved MCL60 hard.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, did not make it an easy day for Red Bull. The former was overheard moaning about braking problems, while the latter was observed becoming irate following his flying lap and pounding his fist against the steering wheel.
It was a much-improved showing from Haas as Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finishing in P9 and P11, respectively, with the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas sandwiched between the pair.
With the 12th-best time, Liam Lawson led the AlphaTauri team, beating out Esteban Ocon of Alpine, Lance Stroll of Aston Martin, and fellow rookie Oscar Piastri of McLaren, who placed 15th overall.
Yuki Tsunoda, a teammate of Lawson's, finished in 16th place, ahead of Pierre Gasly's Alpine and Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo, with the Williams duo of Logan Sargeant and Albon finishing last and last, respectively, in their Williams cars.
