Lando Norris says he doesn’t have the identical feeling within the automobile that he had in successful final 12 months’s Singapore Grand Prix after struggling throughout Friday observe.
McLaren dominated 12 months in the past with Norris beating Max Verstappen to victory by over 20 seconds, main each lap from pole place. Beginning this weekend, nevertheless, Norris ended FP2 half a second adrift of teammate Oscar Piastri in fifth place, and says he’s not snug with the MCL39 up to now.
“It is only a tough day for me, not feeling too nice with the automobile,” Norris mentioned. “Lacking all the emotions that I had right here final 12 months. So loads of issues to work on … only a dangerous day.
“Oscar’s fast, so I’ve obtained nothing to complain about, bar simply not doing an excellent job.”
After the second of two crimson flags, Norris additionally had his operating impacted by contact with Charles Leclerc when the Ferrari driver was launched into his path within the pit lane, however the Briton shrugged off the incident, including: “I imply, it value the group a bit of cash, which is a disgrace.”
On the opposite aspect of the storage, championship chief Piastri was extra upbeat, as he made encouraging progress to finish FP2 on prime.
“I feel I discovered my toes on the on the medium [tire] on the finish there,” Piastri mentioned. “After which the tender felt good. Clearly not a lot consultant sort of race operating, however the automobile’s been in good place. I really feel like I’ve discovered so much by way of at present, and that is the purpose of observe, so it has been day.”
Piastri was glad to sacrifice excessive gas operating late on with a view to prioritize his feeling in qualifying trim, given the importance of observe place in Singapore.
“Right here, qualifying is an enormous a part of the weekend. It’s an enormous half all over the place, however I feel particularly right here, it is one of the crucial vital,” he mentioned. “So that you’d moderately qualify additional up and cope with the unknown for the race, than qualify additional again however know precisely what is going on to occur within the race as a result of it is probably not going that can assist you.”
Max Verstappen is the closest rival to the 2 McLarens within the drivers’ championship, and after ending each observe periods in third place the Dutchman can be inspired by his begin to the weekend.
“I feel FP1 began fairly properly,” Verstappen mentioned. “We have been simply getting in control with issues. The automobile was not too dangerous – a bit just like the final two weekends the place there have been no main issues. Then in FP2 just a few issues that we tried, some have been good, so we simply have to try to optimize {that a} bit extra. General on the whole fairly happy, however undoubtedly want a bit extra tempo to struggle up on the entrance tomorrow.
“It’s undoubtedly very optimistic [to start well at this circuit]. Nonetheless just a few issues that we need to do higher nevertheless it’s not like we have to throw out the setup utterly, in order that’s factor. We’ll see tomorrow. Is it going to be adequate to struggle up entrance? I don’t know. I at all times discover FP2 is a bit tough to say, with folks operating [different] engine modes, top-speed smart. I assume we’ll see in qualifying.
“Tiny particulars [matter] – entrance grip, rear grip, preserving the tires alive all through the lap. Round right here the tires overheat so much. All these issues simply should be a little bit bit higher after which hopefully that can be a bit extra within the window, then you possibly can push a bit more durable.”
