Report | Ferraris fastest under the lights for FP2!

Carlos Sainz held his teammate at bay with two tenths between them come the chequered flag. A 1-2 for FP2 may be a good sign for their long run performances. A struggling Russell came to round out the top three while championship leader Verstappen could only muster fourth.

The Early Minutes

Alfa Romeos were the first cars out into the night, ready to collect their Friday long run data. Lance Stroll would stay in his garage for this session, with Aston Martin needing to replace the gearbox out of precaution after his barrier collision in FP1.

Nicholas Latifi expressed concern very early on over an item stuck near his right shoulder, under the seatbelts, which compromised his outlap. 

Mercedes’ George Russell suffers a replica issue to what he experienced in FP1 where his car couldn’t perform under braking, slowly sliding the nose into the barriers near the Anderson bridge. His teammate, FP1 leader Hamilton suffered behind a slow Latifi while on a push lap, with traffic soon to be a concern for all during qualifying tomorrow.

Push Laps

Many drivers like Sergio Perez & Esteban Ocon had briefly scratched the barriers on their faster runs. At around the halfway mark of the session, most cars were out on softs, as they searched for some faster laps.

Russell continued to really suffer under braking, with Mercedes likely to look into the internal balances after today to help with qualifying tomorrow. Pierre Gasly suffered a strange incident in the pitlane, with his car’s airbox catching fire, with the team quick to get extinguishers on it. He later came out, with the strange issue put down to an error with the “fuel breather”.

Verstappen came out late for a fast lap, but could not muster a time to beat the Ferraris in front. With most time lost in the third sector, his tyres may have begun to overheat by the end of the lap.

FP2 CLASSIFICATION @ScuderiaFerrari 1-2 #SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/FWbp3T0XWX

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 30, 2022

Some Concerns

Charles Leclerc had to sit out almost half of the session, as his team ran diagnostics and scans over his car to check over a minor concern which they had.

Most teams will be undergoing reviews of their car balance, as many cars ended up sliding wide or had moments through the faster corners.

A few drivers got caught out and had to exit to the runoffs. With brake heat being a concern under the humidity and hard brake zones, teams will definitely be keeping their eye on these components.