Lando Norris says that he does not have the same feeling in the car that he had when winning the Singapore Grand Prix last year after struggling during Friday’s practice.
McLaren dominated 12 months ago, in which Norris Max Verstappen defeated with more than 20 seconds, leading each round from the pole position. From this weekend, however, Norris finished FP2 half a second drift from teammate Oscar Piastri in fifth place, and says that he has not been familiar with the MCL39 so far.
“It’s just a difficult day for me, not feeling too good with the car,” said Norris. “Miss all feelings that I had here last year. So many things to work on … Just a bad day.
“Oscar is fast, so I have nothing to complain about, bar just doesn’t work well.”
After the second of two red flags, Norris had also influenced his running by contact with Charles Leclerc when the Ferrari driver was released on his path in the Pitlane, but the Brit picked up the incident and added: “I mean, it costs the team a little money, which is a shame.”
On the other side of the garage, championship leader Piastri was more cheerful because he made encouraging progress to end FP2 at the top.
‘I think I found my feet on the medium [tire] At the end there, “Piastri said.” And then the soft felt good. It is clear that not much representative type of racing racing, but the car has been in good place. I feel that I learned a lot today, and that is the purpose of practice, so it has been a good day. “
Piastri was happy to sacrifice a high fuel that was too late to prioritize his feelings in qualifying trim, given the meaning of the job position in Singapore.
“Here qualification is a huge part of the weekend. It is a huge part everywhere, but I think it is one of the most important here,” he said. “So you prefer to be eligible and dealing with the unknown for the race, then you qualify further, but know exactly what will happen in the race because it will not really help you.”
Max Verstappen is the nearest rival of the two McLarens in the driver’s championship, and after the end of both practice sessions in third place, the Dutchman is also encouraged by his start of the weekend.
“I think FP1 started very nicely,” said Verstappen. “We just got aware of things. The car was not too bad – a bit like the last two weekends where there were no major problems. When in FP2 a few things we tried, some were good, so we just have to try to optimize that a bit more. In general, generally generally generally generally need to be in general in general, but certainly a bit more temper.
“It is absolutely very positive [to start well at this circuit]. Still a few things that we want to do better, but it is not as if we have to completely throw away the setup, so that is a good thing. We will see tomorrow. Will it be good enough to fight in advance? Don’t know. I always think that FP2 is a bit difficult to say, with people running [different] Motorodi, wise of the upper speed. I think we will see in qualifying.
‘Small details [matter] – Handle in front of the front, rear grip, keeping the tires alive in the lap. Here the tires are a lot of overheated. All those things just have to be a little better and hopefully that will be a bit more in the window, then you can push a little harder. “
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