Piastri fastest in heavily disrupted Singapore FP2

Oscar Piastri topped a crucial but disrupted second practice at the Singapore Grand Prix after two red flags and a bizarre pit lane crash involving Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris interrupted the session.

Crashes for George Russell and Liam Lawson combined to reduce the hour-long session by 24 minutes, compromising the only representative after-dark session for this night-time grand prix,

Russell was first in the barriers, carrying too much speed into Turn 16, sliding past the apex and plowing nose-first into the barrier before he could save himself from a damaging tank-slapper.

“That was weird,” Russell reported before limping back to pit lane without his nosecone.

The damage was more severe than it looked, however, and the team withdrew him from the session after just six laps.

The session was suspended for almost 12 minutes as the track was cleared and the barriers were reset, but the circuit remained open for barely five minutes before it was closed again, this time to collect Liam Lawson’s stricken Racing Bulls car.

The Kiwi was on a fast lap when he lost control of his car through Turn 17, heavily slapping the barrier on exit. The impact immediately stripped his right-front tire from its rim and caused a right-rear puncture. The Kiwi attempted to return to pit lane, but with his floor scraping along the ground and debris on the track, he was forced to stop in pit entry, triggering the suspension.

Leclerc then risked causing a third red flag of the session when he bizarrely hit Norris as the drivers exited their garages for the resumption.

Norris was already in the fast lane when Leclerc was released directly into his path. They made front-wheel contact, sending Norris into the pit wall and breaking the McLaren’s front wing.

McLaren and Ferrari mechanics worked to rescue Norris and return him to the garage for repairs, while Leclerc was able to continue without damage. The incident will go before the stewards after the session.

Lawson’s crash was particularly awkward for its timing, coming just as the qualifying simulation laps were being set around halfway through the hour. Most drivers returned to the circuit with the soft tire to complete their qualifying simulation runs, but it prevented them from undertaking any meaningful long running.

Piastri took his chance to move to the top of the order with a best time of 1m30.714s, but it was Isack Hadjar who followed him in second place, the Racing Bulls rookie nailing the timing of his lap in high-traffic conditions to trail by just 0.132s.

Max Verstappen was among the first to set a fast lap after red flags and ended the session third, only 0.143s behind Piastri in a competitive showing for Red Bull Racing.

Fernando Alonso, who topped FP1, was fourth and only 0.163s behind Piastri in a tightly contested top four.

Norris struggled to string together a competitive lap after his pit lane crash. His first time left him 0.483s behind teammate Piastri, at which point his team suggested he switch to continuous running to end the session. The Briton argued that he needed to search for half a second, but a cool-down lap and final push lap yielded no extra time, leaving him fifth.

Lance Stroll was sixth ahead of Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz.

Leclerc led Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, the pair split by only 0.025s but almost 0.8s slower than Piastri in the lower reaches of the top 10.

Yuki Tsunoda was an uncompetitive 11th, the Japanese river 0.994s slower than Piastri and 0.851s behind teammate Verstappen. The under-pressure Japanese driver headed Oliver Bearman, Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto down to 15th.

Pierre Gasly was the fastest Alpine driver, lapping 16th fastest, ahead of the crashed-out Lawson.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was an unrepresentative 18th. The Mercedes rookie had just set out to start a qualifying lap when Lawson hit the wall, but his team opted to send him back out for a run on medium tires after the resumption, leaving him without a fast time.

Franco Colapinto was 19th for Alpine ahead of the crashed-out Russell.

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