20/09/2024
NEWS STORY
Ahead of today's opening session, the air temperature is 31 degrees C, while the track temperature is 38 degrees.
As was the case in Baku, updates are few and far between. Red Bull has a new Front Corner. To attain more front brake material cooling, a larger exit duct has been designed and made to cope with the unique demands of this event. Ferrari has a new Front Wing. Not specific to this circuit, this front wing upgrade offers performance and downstream flow features improvements over a wider polar range.
As required by the track characteristics a more loaded Beam Wing has been designed by McLaren which efficiently increases overall aerodynamic load, while at Aston Martin a new Front Wing features a more aggressive flap with increased incidence mid-span. The increased aggression of the flap increases the load generated by the front wing to balance the rear wing level expected to be run at this event.
At Alpine the top rear wing has been reprofiled to increase rear wing loading with the aim of improving lap time at such a low efficiency track.
Williams has brought a new Front Suspension which sees the front wishbones, track rod and pushrod geometries updated along with minor updates to some of the brake duct surfaces, boot panels, and chassis leg fairings compliment the revised leg geometries. These changes condition the flow ahead of the surfaces that were updated for the Dutch GP. The revised onset flow helps deliver more local load from the previous update.
RB has a new Front Wing with increased camber & chord flap compared to previous components. This larger front flap increases the amount of overall load generated by the front wing assembly, to provide the balance range necessary for high-downforce, high-balance circuits.
Mercedes, Stake and Haas have not brought any upgrades.
In the minutes before the start of the session there appears to be a problem with Piastri's left-rear wheel which is proving impossible to remove.
Due to the fact that this session - and FP3 - take place under entirely different conditions to qualifying and the race, it is somewhat unrepresentative. That said, it allows teams the opportunity to test their upgrades and acquire valuable data.
As a reminder, this year there are four DRS zones.
The lights go green and Ricciardo leads the way, possibly for the last time, followed by Zhou, Bottas, Russell and Tsunoda.
Zhou complains that his visor is too dark and wishes to change his helmet.
As more drivers emerge it is a mixture of hards and mediums.
Despite his visor issue Zhou posts the first time of the weekend, a 39.454, but this is soon beaten by Tsunoda, Bottas and Hamilton (36.128).
In the McLaren garage the errant wheel has been removed but work continues on the car to ensure the hub hasn't been damaged during the operation.
Meanwhile teammate Norris posts a 35.522.
Bottas goes second with a 36.004 as Leclerc goes quickest in the first two sectors. The Monegasque goes second to Tsunoda with a 35.123, only for Sainz to respond with a 34.720.
Verstappen posts a 34.417 but his title rival responds with a 33.903. Both are on mediums.
In the RB garage the mechanics are struggling to remove the aero rake on Ricciardo's car.
Thirteen minutes in and Piastri finally heads out.
Leclerc (hards) goes second with a 34.039 as Ocon improves to tenth with a 35.090.
Norris consolidates his top spot with a 33.199 as Piastri begins his first flying lap of the weekend.
As ever the track is very dusty and drivers are struggling for grip. Verstappen is also struggling with understeer.
Sainz (hards) stops the clock at 33.476 to go second as Piastri posts an exploratory 34.887.
"Got blocked by the Williams," complains Bottas of Colapinto, as Ricciardo heads out again.
Leclerc goes top with a 32.702, the Ferrari driver still on the white-banded rubber.
Albon improves to fourth with a 33.543.
Ricciardo (hards) improves to fifth with a 33.576 as Norris crosses the line at 32.165 on softs, the McLaren driver one of the first to try the red-banded rubber.
The Haas pair, Hamilton and Verstappen follow suit and bold on the softs.
Verstappen goes second, 0.216s off Norris' pace, as Hamilton (32.679) goes third.
Tsunoda goes second (32.263) but he is demoted when Sainz improves to 32.166.
"That is a very, very **** lap," says Leclerc.
"I got blocked by the Red Bull," complains Bottas of Perez.
Piastri improves to seventh with a 32.498 but remains 0.659s off the pace.
"I feel the front pitching under braking," reports Perez.
With just under twenty minutes remaining Russell ditches the softs for hards as the long runs begin.
Replay shows lighting fast reaction from Alonso as he runs over a kerb at the very moment he hits the gas. Brilliant stuff from the two-time world champion.
"Of course, Stroll man," complains Tsunoda as he is impeded by the Aston Martin driver.
Piastri has a very, very, very close encounter with the wall at Turn 10. He subsequently improves to sixth with a 32.369.
"I can't stop the car with the front-right," reports Perez.
As the session concludes all three compounds are still in use.
Leclerc is quickest, ahead of Norris, Sainz, Verstappen, Tsunoda, Piastri, Ricciardo, Albon, Alonso and Ocon.
Colapinto is eleventh, ahead of Hamilton, Gasly, Perez, Stroll, Russell, Magnussen, Bottas, Zhou and Hulkenberg.
Check out our Friday gallery from Marina Bay here.