Lewis Hamilton relegated Max Verstappen to second place by the end of Friday practice in Singapore, but the pair were well ahead of the rest of their rivals.
Verstappen, who had been quickest in first practice at the Marina Bay circuit, returned to the top of the times after his qualifying simulation in the second session. However Hamilton. having been fractionally slower than the Red Bull driver through the first two sectors, produced a stunningly quick final sector time – four tenths of a second quicker than anyone else – to head the times.Both were almost a full second faster than their respective team mates. Valtteri Bottas, back on track after crashing in first practice, was 1.1 seconds behind Hamilton. Alexander Albon went off at turn 10 early at the beginning of second practice and damaged his front wing. After he had a new example fitted he posted a best time of 1’39.943, just within a second of Verstappen.
The Ferrari drivers lost time in traffic on their first flying runs. Sebastian Vettel got a clean run in but on his worn tyres ended up eight-tenths shy of Hamilton. Charles Leclerc, whose first practice session was disrupted by a gearbox problem, had to settle for sixth.
Traffic trouble was a theme of the session. Lando Norris was held up by his own team mate, though both McLaren drivers ended the day inside the top 10. They were separated by Nico Hulkenberg, who again was the fastest of the two Renaults.
Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen made contact, the Racing Point driver accusing his Haas rival of trying to spoil his lap. Perez was summoned to the stewards over the incident.
The Haas pair struggled for pace: Magnussen ended the session behind George Russell’s Williams. Grosjean, 17th fastest, told his race engineer not to talk to him in the corners after spinning at turn two.
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| Pos. | No. | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’38.773 | 29 | |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’38.957 | 0.184 | 29 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’39.591 | 0.818 | 31 |
| 4 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’39.894 | 1.121 | 29 |
| 5 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Red Bull-Honda | 1’39.943 | 1.170 | 30 |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’40.018 | 1.245 | 30 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’40.145 | 1.372 | 33 |
| 8 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’40.324 | 1.551 | 30 |
| 9 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’40.361 | 1.588 | 35 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’40.637 | 1.864 | 32 |
| 11 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’40.713 | 1.940 | 32 |
| 12 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’40.811 | 2.038 | 30 |
| 13 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’40.875 | 2.102 | 29 |
| 14 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’41.128 | 2.355 | 35 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’41.128 | 2.355 | 30 |
| 16 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’41.232 | 2.459 | 28 |
| 17 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.392 | 2.619 | 26 |
| 18 | 63 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’41.445 | 2.672 | 35 |
| 19 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’41.564 | 2.791 | 30 |
| 20 | 88 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’42.177 | 3.404 | 34 |
Second practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’38.773
+0.184 Max Verstappen – 1’38.957
+0.818 Sebastian Vettel – 1’39.591
+1.121 Valtteri Bottas – 1’39.894
+1.170 Alexander Albon – 1’39.943
+1.245 Charles Leclerc – 1’40.018
+1.372 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’40.145
+1.551 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’40.324
+1.588 Lando Norris – 1’40.361
+1.864 Pierre Gasly – 1’40.637
+1.940 Daniil Kvyat – 1’40.713
+2.038 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’40.811
+2.102 Sergio Perez – 1’40.875
+2.355 Antonio Giovinazzi – 1’41.128
+2.355 Lance Stroll – 1’41.128
+2.459 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’41.232
+2.619 Romain Grosjean – 1’41.392
+2.672 George Russell – 1’41.445
+2.791 Kevin Magnussen – 1’41.564
+3.404 Robert Kubica – 1’42.177
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
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2019 Singapore Grand Prix
- Top ten pictures from the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix
- 2019 Singapore Grand Prix Star Performers
- Vettel lights up Singapore again as Ferrari keep Leclerc in the dark
- Ferrari score first hat-trick of wins for more than a decade
- Mercedes slowed Bottas to protect Hamilton from Albon
Rob S.
20th September 2019, 15:14
Vettel’s time stands out for me, given the track is not suited to Ferrari. I wonder if the aerodynamic updates Ferrari brought this weekend have managed to stabilise the rear end to Vettel’s liking.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
20th September 2019, 15:21
Visual gaps make for a good representation of the state of F1 right now
Matthijs (@matthijs)
20th September 2019, 15:29
@hahostolze I’m not sure. The visual gaps show that in this case it’s not so much the car but more the driver, most of the time it’s the other way around.
Hellsing
20th September 2019, 15:31
Sure sure…. Magically when the cars arrive at Singapore they all get even… Downforce, hp, tire efficiency
erikje
20th September 2019, 19:07
He probably pointed at the differences between the same cars and the drivers of the same team.
MattDS (@mattds)
20th September 2019, 15:30
@hahostolze would love to see the visual gaps for race weekends in, say, beginning of the nineties…
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
20th September 2019, 19:28
It would be interesting for sure. I looked back at quali times for some mid-90’s races recently. The 2.7 seconds back of the Williams would be something like 4th or 5th on the grid. Even comparing these times to modern spec series you see a bigger gap from front to back. Amazing how close they have got these cars.
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
20th September 2019, 16:10
If you mean that we currently have Max and Lewis miles ahead everyone else and poor Robert miles behind, I can get it, otherwise I don’t.
J3d89
20th September 2019, 15:23
I’m wondering why most of the sites don’t pay more attention to the race pace data, is like non existent and when they put something about it, its in a far corner, abandoned like the ugly duckling.. I would love that kind of information to be more relevant on free practice days
Joe
20th September 2019, 15:30
Totally agree, Keith, a long run pace analysis after practice sessions would be a great addition to your already fantastic series.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
20th September 2019, 15:54
100% agreed! Most of the time, this race sim data is more important then the fastest times for each driver. In most cases, during FP1 or FP2, drivers dont really push the limits of corners or they encounter traffic, so it’s not as relevant as an average of race pace lap time gathered over 10-12 laps. Please @Keith add more info about race pace simulations.
erikje
20th September 2019, 16:31
Agreed, to give some info. In race pace Ferrari is almost a second slower then HAM and 0,8 compared with VER.
anon
20th September 2019, 18:40
@gechichan, to be fair, in the past these round up articles used to have the lap times from the longest stint that the drivers did included in the article. However, it seemed that not that many fans did notice or comment on them, so it may be that Keith has decided that the effort required to produce those plots was too high to the interest that it usually generated from the fans.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
20th September 2019, 15:55
Good point there.
Prab
20th September 2019, 19:19
+1 !!!
Edvaldo
20th September 2019, 16:30
As we can see, Grosjean was fundamental to solve Haas’s car problems.
HAL
20th September 2019, 18:18
Easy target… He’s still ahead of Mag, isn’t he ? Right it’s only FP1, but that’s stands also for your remark.
Edvaldo
20th September 2019, 20:42
Expect another remark from me tomorrow then!!
Tango (@tango)
20th September 2019, 16:32
Let’s see how this translates tomorrow and Sunday… But boy do these two eat their team mates and the rest of the field for breakfast. What I like is that in whichever order they end up, I know if there is the snif of a possibility to win, neither of them will stay sleeping in P2.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
20th September 2019, 19:35
@tango
Bottas beat Lewis in the last race.
Tango (@tango)
20th September 2019, 20:38
@bigjoe yes, very true. His race was so boring I actually forgot.
Martin
20th September 2019, 20:39
Yeah those 2 points really changed the face of the championship
Esploratore (@esploratore)
21st September 2019, 1:20
Perhaps at the checkered flag, hamilton demolished bottas DURING the race, making serious attempts on leclerc for longer, bottas’ attempts were for less laps and less threatening.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
21st September 2019, 14:28
That’s the kind of race that Alain Prost would have settled for 2nd place rather than make a mistake and mess up his tires.
The race would have been vastly more interesting with no pit communication allowed.