Ridiculous Ferrari-McLaren pitlane crash in disrupted Singapore FP2
Formula 1

Ridiculous Ferrari-McLaren pitlane crash in disrupted Singapore FP2

by Jack Benyon
2 min read

Oscar Piastri topped second practice at the Singapore Grand Prix for McLaren, while his team-mate Lando Norris's car was hit by Charles Leclerc's Ferrari in a ridiculous incident in the pitlane that has been noted as an unsafe release.

It was a scruffy session for many with three major crashes - and many more wall brushes and runoff visits - including the Norris/Leclerc incident which, added together, cost over 20 minutes of track time in the hour-long session.

Pitlane games have become increasingly prevalent in F1 of late, and a perfect example was given of that as Leclerc was released from his Ferrari garage and careered straight into the front wing of Norris's McLaren.

Ferrari's mechanics helped wheel back Norris's McLaren and a quick wing change had him back out again pretty quickly, albeit delayed by the incident.

Norris was only fifth fastest and half a second off Piastri, who set his time - a 1m30.714s - in the closing stages. There was some confusion about the deficit between Norris and his team on the radio and Norris sounded downcast - suggesting that time was to be found in his driving and not the car.

With the session truncated, there was an unusual order - just like there was in FP1, which was topped by Fernando Alonso.

Isack Hadjar jumped into second for Racing Bulls, just 0.132s off Piastri's benchmark.

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Alonso's Aston Martin completed the top four and were the only other drivers to dip into the 1m30s.

It was another good session for Aston Martin as Lance Stroll was sixth behind Norris, with Esteban Ocon of Haas and Carlos Sainz's Williams both ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton actually brushed the wall on his final flying lap as he rounded out the top 10.

The other big incidents, which both caused red flags, came from George Russell and Liam Lawson.

Russell began to lose the rear end on the entry to the Turn 16 right-hander with less than 18 minutes on the clock and, while he managed to correct it, the correction sent the car to the left and he was carrying too much speed to slow before hitting the outside barrier head-on.

The Mercedes driver didn't get any soft tyre running in on Friday as a result.

Racing Bulls driver Lawson got a bit wide exiting Turn 17 with 26 minutes left, almost oversteered into the wall and then whacked the barrier with the front-right wheel on the exit after trying to correct his slide. The tyre almost immediately came off and rolled down the track.

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