The green lights were on and the second free practice session for the 2022 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix started at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, with Valtteri Bottas the first driver out on the track.
Lewis Hamilton, who topped the timesheets in the first free practice session, was also among the early runners in FP2.
After reporting brake issues in Practice One, it Charles Leclerc had to wait a little bit longer to get into practice Two as the Ferrari team re-attached his floor after doing some work. Back on track Lewis Hamilton set the quickest lap of the session in the early stages with a 1:44.091, while Fernando Alonso was just behind him in second with Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell third-fastest.
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz then topped the timesheet after clocking a 1:43.71. However, Lewis Hamilton improved with his following lap to go fastest again. Charles leclerc was still awaiting a chance to get involved in this practice session as the car got laser scanned with 20 minutes already over in FP2. Max Verstappen was out on track as the wait for nearly over for Charles Leclerc, who then finally entered the track on mediums.
With the field having switched to soft tyres, it was Carlos Sainz who set the early pace, but not without a major scare: he appeared to clip the barrier on his way out of Turn 5, but suffered no apparent damage. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, pulled out of his first attempt at a flying lap due to traffic. Charles Leclerc then set the second-fastest time of the session and sat just behind Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, while Alfa Romeo driver Bottas was running third-fastest at this stage of the second free practice session.
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We had just under 25 minutes left of this session and George Russell saw a real improvement despite some struggles with his steering, putting himself second on the timesheet and just +0.160s off Carlos Sainz at the top. His teammate Lewis Hamilton then followed him and put himself third and just over fourth tenths behind the Ferrari. Max Verstappen had been largely absent from this session, completing just three laps. His latest disappearance was being caused by Red Bull once more changing his front suspension and it was interesting to see if the changes brought any benefits in the final stages of the session. Pierre Gasly was out of his car as flame shoot out of the air vent after pulling into the pits. Fortunately, the Alpha Tauri pit crew were able to extinguish the fire quickly.
Carlos had a major scare as he appeared to clip the barrier on his way out of Turn 5, but suffered no apparent damage. The Spanish driver then improved to a 1:42.587, while Charles went P2 on mediums, +0.295 to Carlos in P1 on softs. Lewis Hamilton attempted a new fast run, but took a little off-track excursion at Turn 1 as he managed to get the car back on course and continue his lap.
We didn’t hear much from the world champion in this session but Max Verstappen naied a 1:42.926. to set the fourth-fastest time of the session with around two minutes to go.
And it was a Ferrari 1-2 in FP2, with Carlos Sainz topping the timesheet and Charles Leclerc in second. The Mercedes’ of Russell and Hamilton are third and fifth-fastest respectively, with runaway championship leader Verstappen fourth.
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