As the sun set over Marina Bay, the Friday practice sessions for the Singapore Grand Prix unfolded under the floodlights.

And after two practice sessions, it ended with McLaren’s Lando Norris leading the charge ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

FP2, filled with drama and precision, ended on a sour note for Mercedes, as George Russell found himself up close and personal with the wall in the final minutes.

The early part of the session was relatively tame, with most drivers running on medium and hard tyres, feeling out the circuit. Ferrari seemed to be in good shape early on, with Leclerc and Sainz sitting at the top of the timesheets. Leclerc posting a 1m 31.655s, with Sainz just a few tenths back.

It was business as usual, right until the switch to soft tyres around 20 minutes into the session.

Williams’ Alex Albon, continuing his impressive run of form, briefly topped the charts after switching to the soft rubber. His time was just 0.015s quicker than Leclerc’s earlier lap.

But then, Lando Norris clocked in a 1m 30.727s, enough to secure the fastest time of the session, edging Leclerc by just under a tenth. While Norris was all smiles, Leclerc had a brief scare, brushing the wall at Turn 14.

Carlos Sainz backed up his teammate with a distant third, while the other McLaren, driven by Oscar Piastri, found itself sandwiched between the AlphaTauris of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.

Piastri had his own brush with drama, running wide at Turn 7 before giving the wall a solid thump at Turn 17. Not to be outdone, Norris had his own “I kissed the wall” moment at Turn 3.

Further down the field, Sergio Perez took the honour of being the fastest Red Bull, though his session was far from smooth. The Mexican driver complained about the car being “all over the place,” and he earned himself a black and white flag for crossing the white line at the pit exit to avoid an Aston Martin.

Max Verstappen was a surprising 15th, 1.2 seconds adrift. Verstappen’s frustrations didn’t start on track though; he entered the session having already received a penalty from the FIA for some colourful language during Thursday’s press conference. It seems the reigning champ might be fighting more than just the track this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton also had a session to forget, languishing in 11th place. “No rear end” and “massive understeer” were just some of the choice phrases Hamilton shared over the radio, clearly not in tune with his Mercedes. His lap on the soft tyres left him smack between Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.

Meanwhile, Williams rookie Franco Colapinto, perhaps still getting used to the pressures of F1, made the rookie error of stopping at the wrong pit box during the session. He ended the session in 16th.

Photo Credits: Formula 1 Content Pool