Singapore GP: Godzilla stars in early FP3 running before Lando Norris comes to the fore

Lando Norris laps the Marina Bay circuit

Lando Norris destroyed his rivals in the final practice hour for the Singapore Grand Prix, up by almost half a second.

The McLaren driver laid down a 1:29.646, a new lap record, to sit 0.479s up on George Russell with Oscar Piastri P3.

Lando Norris lays down marker ahead of qualifying

On a slow start to Saturday’s action, Aston Martin were the first to brave the conditions including a head-to-head battle with a monitor lizard that was heading down to Turn 16. “He’s living his best life,” declared Charles Leclerc while Fernando Alonso had to change his line to avoid hitting it.

Out came the red flags as a marshal tried to change the lizard off the circuit, but it gave him a run.

The great lizard chase of F1 2024 gave Mercedes time to wrap up their changes to the W15s, the Brackley squad and Red Bull reportedly changing the mechanical balance of the cars – making them stiffer – after Friday’s troubles.

Back underway with 47 minutes on the clock and predominantly on the medium tyres, Max Verstappen set the early pace ahead of Lando Norris and Nico Hulkenberg. The benchmark time was down to a 1:32.044 after the first 20 minutes.

“The car is much better,” said Verstappen, before adding that he was still losing “the rear” of his RB20.

F1 2024 head-to-head stats

F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Pierre Gasly had a “very close” moment with a Mercedes in the traffic, Alex Albon clipped the wall puncturing a wheel, and Charles Leclerc took P1 with a 1:31.525.

As the action continued, Verstappen had a moment over the kerbs, George Russell found himself the wrong way up an escape road, and a happier Lewis Hamilton reported that his W15 was “night and day different” to Friday.

Leclerc sat P1 heading into the final 20 minutes, the Ferrari driver 0.098s ahead of his team-mate Carlos Sainz with Verstappen a further 0.007s down.

Swapping to soft tyres Russell shot to the top of the timesheet with a 1:30.1 but that was destroyed by Norris with a 1:29.646. Ferrari were the last of the top four teams to complete a soft tyre run but were well down on Norris’ best. Leclerc was not happy, telling Ferrari: “Let’s focus on driving and the feeling. We are very slow.”

The McLaren driver finished P1 with a 1:29.646, putting him 0.479s ahead of Russell with Piastri third ahead of Verstappen.

Times

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:29.646
2 George Russell Mercedes + 0.479
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren + 0.785
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 0.894
5 charles Leclerc Ferrari + 0.913
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari + 1.161
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 1.218
8 Alex Albon Williams + 1.303
9 Franco Colapinto Williams + 1.343
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin + 1.436
11 Yuki Tsunoda VCARB + 1.468
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas + 1.541
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas + 1.619
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine + 1.721
15 Sergio Perez Red Bull + 1.794
16 Daniel Ricciardo VCARB + 1.966
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 2.073
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine + 2.076
19 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber + 2.452
20 Guanyu Zhou Kick Sauber + 3.006

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