Friday Report - Piastri fastest in second session

Oscar Piastri set the pace in a disrupted second free practice session for the Singapore Grand Prix, leading a McLaren-headed session that was littered with red flags, wall contacts and a pitlane collision between Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

Piastri’s 1m30.714s lap on soft tyres proved unbeatable, keeping him just clear of Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar, who impressed with a late 1m30.846s, and Max Verstappen, whose 1m30.857s briefly put Red Bull on top before being shuffled back.

The 60-minute evening session was interrupted early on when George Russell lost the rear of his Mercedes at Turn 16, breaking his front wing and triggering barrier repairs. Once running resumed, Lewis Hamilton briefly headed the order for Ferrari before Esteban Ocon (1m31.480s) and then others took advantage of the grip from the C5 compound.

The second stoppage came when Liam Lawson clipped the wall at Turn 17, damaging the right-front of his Racing Bulls car and stopping at the pit entry. On the restart, tension rose in the lane when Leclerc exited his Ferrari garage and struck Norris, shoving the McLaren against the wall and breaking its front wing. Both continued, though Norris later admitted frustration at losing almost half a second to his team-mate.

In the final flurry of laps, Fernando Alonso repeated his FP1 form with a 1m30.877s, only for Verstappen and then Piastri to push the benchmark lower. Hadjar squeezed between them with his own late flyer to split the established frontrunners.

Behind the top four, Norris salvaged fifth on 1m31.197s, just ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. Ocon took seventh for Haas with 1m31.298s, narrowly faster than Williams’ Carlos Sainz on 1m31.299s. Leclerc’s 1m31.466s left him ninth after the pitlane clash, while Hamilton rounded out the top ten on 1m31.491s using mediums.

Further back, Yuki Tsunoda managed 11th for Red Bull (1m31.708s) ahead of Haas’ Oliver Bearman (1m31.711s). Williams’ Alex Albon was 13th on 1m32.060s, followed closely by Sauber duo Nico Hülkenberg (1m32.069s) and Gabriel Bortoleto (1m32.319s).

Pierre Gasly placed 16th for Alpine on 1m32.458s, with Lawson stranded in 17th following his crash. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) took 18th with 1m32.719s, while Gasly’s team-mate Franco Colapinto was 19th on 1m33.139s. Russell, after his early crash, was last with a 1m33.231s.

With the Marina Bay surface evolving rapidly, teams will have much to digest ahead of final practice and qualifying on Saturday.