McLaren’s Lando Norris set the quickest time for the final practice session before Singapore GP qualifying. The lap time of 1:29.648 was well enough to place the championship contender ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and another McLaren driver Oscar Piastri.
Norris has thus confirmed his status as a top challenger for the Singapore GP after successfully finishing first in FP2 as well.
The early stage of the session was disrupted and then red-flagged due to the lizard’s excursion out on track, hence the first timed lap was set by Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, 16 minutes into the session.
Verstappen’s Saturday stint already felt like an upward trajectory after a horrendous Friday practice. The Dutchman noted that the ‘car already felt better’ once Verstappen put it in the first place ahead of Perez and McLaren drivers.
Everyone bar Colapinto and Sauber’s set their time on yellow-based soft tires which comes as a surprise. The new Marina Bay Circuit layout puts more notion into car traction which ultimately puts less pressure onto tires than the previous layout.
Track progression enabled Lando Norris to ‘cut’ Verstappen’s lead with every next lap. Norris managed to put himself into 2nd place with just 18 thousands of a second behind.
Frontrunner from the Singapore GP first practice, Charles Leclerc continued to prove his status for this weekend by taking a lead from Verstappen with a lap 1 tenth quicker. A couple of minutes later, Monegasque’s teammate Carlos Sainz joins to lock the Ferrari’s 1-2.
Russell’s struggles this week continued when Briton spun his Mercedes W15 at the entry zone of the turn 5.
The last third of the Singapore GP FP3 was reserved for the ‘quali sim’ as the teams sent their drivers out on red-banded supersoft tires to feel the taste of the qualifying session yet to come.
Lando Norris stunned with a flying lap that was a mere half a second quicker than Mercedes’ Russell who expressed ‘surprise that not many drivers were out on supersofts yet’. Worth noting that this was the first lap set under 1:30s.
Ferrari was unable to replicate the pace set on medium tires earlier in the session. Leclerc could only manage 5th with 9-tenths behind Lando Norris.
I just have no grip.
Charles Leclerc gave a feedback as he steers into the pitlane.
Championship leader Max Verstappen’s Saturday started on a positive note. Dutchman was quicker than, at the moment, superior Ferrari machines who lined behind him in 5th and 6th respectively.