Singapore – Free Practice 2: Ricciardo and Red Bull Drive the Point Home!

After a first session dominated by the surprising Daniel Ricciardo, the cars return to the track inside Marina Bay for a second session that will take place at night and with cooler temperatures than this morning, even though more than 30° are expected.

And as a symbol, it’s Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren-Honda that briefly tops the time sheets with a 1.44.392 at the beginning of the session, even as the two entities announced their separation at the end of the season. The Belgian is quickly overtaken by Daniel Ricciardo, who seems definitely at ease in the streets of Singapore behind the wheel of his Red Bull. He leads his teammate Max Verstappen by nearly half a second.

Moreover, it is the two Red Bulls that seem to be performing really well on this track, as the Dutchman snatches the best time from the Australian by setting the record in the third sector and the absolute track record with 1:42.077. Could the Austrian cars be the ones to beat this weekend?

FASTEST SECTORS ⏱️

Red Bull
Red Bull
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The serious business begins after 30 minutes into the session. Nico Hülkenberg is one of the first drivers to don the Ultra Soft tires. He automatically places his Renault in third position, 3 tenths behind the Red Bulls.

And it’s the trigger for the rest of the field, who also decide to switch to the purple-banded tires. Daniel Ricciardo immediately sets the fastest time, once again breaking the track record with a 1:40.852. He is followed half a second behind by Verstappen, then Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes. Hülkenberg, the two McLarens of Vandoorne and Fernando Alonso, Sergio Pérez, Kimi Räikkönen, and Esteban Ocon complete the Top 10 in the middle of the session.

In trouble in 11th place, hindered on his fast lap by a Sauber, Sebastian Vettel overdoes it a bit and hits the wall with his Ferrari. Earlier, it was Verstappen who suffered the same mishap at the wheel of his Red Bull. Both men manage to return to their pits, but debris is left on the track, forcing race control to deploy the virtual safety car.

Verstappen hits the wall
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The long stints are linked for all the drivers who are in race preparation mode for Sunday. In this exercise, the Mercedes seem the fastest while the Ferraris are curiously lagging since the beginning of the day, both in fast laps and during race simulations.

As usual, in the final minutes, a few last brave souls will tackle the clock, like Stoffel Vandoorne who places his McLaren in a surprising 6th position.

The full session ranking:

INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF FP2)

Double delight for @danielricciardo as he tops the charts for the second time in one day#SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/SOymCYZq2u

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