Lando Norris dominated remaining observe at Marina Bay forward of essential Singapore qualifying with blistering tempo as the entire title-chasing McLaren driver’s major rivals Struggling.
Norris held a slim lead over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on Friday, and in Saturday’s remaining day race of the weekend, Norris carried out effectively on the comfortable tires to carry off nearest challenger George Russell. Er’s pace was almost half a second forward.
After a Singapore Lizard appeared on the monitor not too long ago, briefly pink flagging it, Norris was the one rider to finish the demanding road course within the 90 seconds, stopping the clock with a time of 1 minute, 29.646 seconds , finally ending 0.479 seconds forward of Russell’s second-place Mercedes, and 0.785 seconds forward of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri (winner in final week’s Baku race).
2016 world champion Nico Rosberg in Sky Sports activities F1 on the finish of the final train earlier than Qualifying at 2 p.m..
“The opposite shock this morning was Russell, who bought probably the most out of his Mercedes. There was nobody else.”
Max Verstappen holds a 59-point lead over Norris in fourth place within the Drivers’ Championship, however is 0.894 seconds behind his title rival’s blistering tempo.
Their automobiles struggled once more on Friday on a monitor the place they struggled final 12 months, with Purple Bull wanting within the early phases of the session on medium tyres, after making noticeable adjustments to the RB20’s suspension to assist it keep on the highway. Stand up higher.
However when the monitor switches to softer compounds for low-fuel simulations, the automobile’s tempo is certainly now not that good relative to Norris, which will likely be qualifying enterprise after a collection of disappointing weekends Ending a fear for the defending champions.
Teammate Sergio Perez’s efficiency on the comfortable tire did not go to plan and the Mexican completed fifteenth.
Mercedes additionally struggled on the opening day, however Russell’s second-place end confirmed their enchancment, with workforce boss Toto Wolff saying afterwards that the W15 was now in “Higher Home windows” “As settings change.
Nevertheless, Lewis Hamilton was nonetheless effectively behind Russell, with the seven-time champion ending seventh, 0.7 seconds behind leaders Mercedes.
“Their set-up is a little bit completely different and we tried a couple of issues in the course of the race, so it is not a spot you’d usually see with the identical automobile,” Wolff added of the variations between the 2 drivers.
However the greatest shock of the race was Ferrari’s sudden dip in kind, which left them fifth and sixth.
Leclerc was 1/tenth of a second behind Norris in yesterday’s session however was 0.913s off the tempo in remaining observe, with the Monegasque complaining of an absence of grip on the finish of the soft-tyre session.
Leclerc and Norris have been neck-and-neck in Friday’s session, however Ferrari’s tempo unexpectedly dropped in remaining observe, not less than in fifth place, with the previous 0.913 seconds off the tempo.
“They should be praying within the Ferrari storage now that issues will return to the best way they have been final evening, once they have been very quick,” steered Rosberg.
Williams’ good kind, in the meantime, continued with two of their drivers making one other top-10 end in eighth and ninth, with spectacular rookie Franco Colapinto One hundredth of a % off the tempo of skilled teammate Alex Albon.
Keep tuned for extra content material…
Sky Sports activities F1 Singapore Grand Prix stay schedule
Please use Chrome browser for a extra handy video participant
A glance again at a few of the most dramatic moments from the Singapore Grand Prix
Saturday, September 21
1pm: Singapore Grand Prix qualifying preparations
2pm: Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying*
4pm: Ted’s Qualification Pocket book
Sunday, September 22
8.30am: F1 Academy Race 2
11:30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Singapore Grand Prix preparations
1pm: Singapore Grand Prix
3pm: Checkered flag: Singapore GP response
4pm: Ted’s Pocket book
* Additionally broadcast stay on Sky Sports activities Predominant Occasion
F1’s thrilling 2024 season continues stay on Sky Sports activities F1 this weekend with extra beautiful road circuit racing, this time underneath the lights of the Singapore Grand Prix. Watch every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Monthly Membership – no contract, cancel anytime
