21/09/2024
NEWS STORY
We began our FP3 report by claiming that there was little to choose between McLaren and Ferrari on Friday's evidence.
Well, whatever the Maranello team did overnight it would appear they royally screwed up, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz almost a second off the pace.
Interestingly, the Italian team has been fined €5,000 by the stewards for adjusting its tyre pressures.
While this is permitted, the rules are that tyre temperatures must be obtained and this must be done in the presence of a FIA Representative. It wasn't.
On the other hand Mercedes appears to have made an improvement as doers Red Bull, at least in Max Verstappen's case.
However, the fact is that Norris looks supreme here and surely the only thing that that can challenge him is the man himself. Piastri has made a slight improvement on yesterday but still remains 0.785s adrift of his teammate.
The Williams pair looked strong, with both drivers in the top nine, while RB has lost a little ground compared to yesterday.
However, as we continue to stress FP1 and FP3 take place in entirely different conditions and are therefore somewhat unrepresentative, while an overnight storm wouldn't have helped, certainly in terms of grip.
In each off the sessions we have witnessed incidents, though this mornings red flag was down to a lizard, the point being that drivers are making mistakes and are getting punished. Consequently we can take nothing for granted heading into this session.
Ahead of Q1, the air temperature is 30 degrees C, while the track temperature is 33 degrees, 5 degrees down on FP3 and falling as day becomes night.
The lights go green and Ocon leads the way, followed by Zhou, Gasly, Bottas and Leclerc. Sainz and Perez are among the early risers.
Ocon posts a benchmark 32.635, his teammate crossing the line at 32.959. However, Leclerc gets serious from the outset, stopping the clock at 30.896.
A 31.599 puts Perez second, albeit 0.7s off the pace.
Norris is quickest in the first two sectors, finally crossing the line at 30.724.
Piastri goes third, 0.244s off his teammate's pace as Sainz makes a mistake at Turn 2 and aborts.
Next time around Sainz goes fourth while Perez goes sixth, ahead of Colapinto, Ocon and Bottas.
Albon goes fifth with a 31.370.
Hamilton goes fifth with a 31.355 as Russell goes seventh (31.415).
As Colapinto brushes the wall at Turn 8, Verstappen goes quickest in S1. The Dutchman crosses the line at 30.854, 0.130s down on Norris.
"Rears sliding a lot," reports Hamilton as Ocon improves to eighth behind Alonso.
Leclerc improves to second with a 30.786 as race control confirms that Sainz is to be investigated for failing to follow the escape road instructions.
Verstappen has a massive slide as driver continue to complain about the condition of the track and the lack of grip.
With just over 5 minutes remaining, Perez is fourteenth, while Gasly, Bottas, Zhou, Colapinto and Stroll comprise the drop zone.
Albon leads the way as the final assault gets underway. The Thai driver goes quickest in S2.
At the line the Williams driver posts a 30.679, but Norris responds with a 30.002.
Piastri posts a 30.258, to go second, 0.2546s down on his teammate.
Hamilton improves to third, as Perez goes fourth.
A 30.517 sees Verstappen go second, 0.155s down on Norris as Ricciardo improves to twelfth.
"I've got no grip," complains Russell, who has dropped to eleventh, as Tsunoda goes ninth.
"Unbelievable bunch of idiots," complains Verstappen, "they're in the way everywhere."
Colapinto goes eighth and Ocon fourteenth as Sainz drops to fifteenth.
The Spaniard posts a 30.670 to go sixth, as his teammate aborts but finishes twelfth.
"Yesterday was good, the medium earlier was okay, but every soft run today I was not competitive and I don't know what to say," says Ricciardo. "If I swear I'll be doing community service."
Quickest is Norris, ahead of Verstappen, Piastri, Hamilton, Perez, Sainz, Albon, Alonso, Colapinto and Tsunoda.
We lose Ricciardo, Stroll, Gasly, Bottas and Zhou.
Verstappen is among the first out for Q2.
Perez crosses the line at 30.653 on fresh softs, while Verstappen is only marginally quicker (30.371). However, the Dutchman's time is delated after he ran wide in the final corner following a massive slide.
A 30.374 sees Hulkenberg go top, only for Norris to respond with a 30.007.
Leclerc goes second (30.289) and Sainz fourth, ahead of Perez, Magnussen, Albon and Colapinto.
"What are we doing with the tyres," asks Albon, "nothing, absolutely nothing!"
Piastri goes third with a 30.327 as Tsunoda goes fifth and Alonso ninth.
As the rest return to the pits, the Mercedes pair finally head out.
Hamilton goes quickest with a 29.929 as Russell goes third (30.153).
"Man, I'm still really struggling out here, " says Russell, "I don't know where all the grip has gone since practice." Perhaps the 6 degree drop in temperature isn't helping.
Verstappen is first out for the final assault, the Dutchman on fresh softs.
The three-time champ can only manage a PB in the opening sector. In S2 he goes quickest, finally crossing the line at 29.680 to go top.
Piastri posts a PB in S1, as does Ocon, while Leclerc goes purple.
Piastri crosses the line at 29.640 to go quickest, as Leclerc goes third with a 29.747.
Sainz goes sixth and Ocon eleventh.
Alonso goes ninth as Norris goes quickest in S1.
Tsunoda goes eighth which demoted Albon into the drop zone.
Perez remains thirteenth, while Hulkenberg goes seventh.
Norris aborts his lap having clearly made the cut.
"What are we doing," asks Albon of team boss James Vowles. "Sorry, really sorry," apologies his teammate.
Quickest is Piastri, ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris, Sainz, Hulkenberg, Russell, Tsunoda and Alonso.
We lose Albon, Colapinto, Perez, Magnussen and Ocon.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Marina Bay here.
Hulkenberg is first out for Q3, the German followed by Piastri, Verstappen, Norris and Hamilton. Soon all ten are on track.
On their out laps they're trading fastest sectors.
Hulkenberg posts a benchmark 30.848 and as Piastri responds with a 30.037 and Verstappen a 29.791, the session is red-flagged.
Sainz has crashed at the final corner, as Verstappen has his time deleted for failing to heed the resultant double yellows
"I don't know if it was cold tyres, it was a big snap," reports the Spaniard, who lost the rear of the Ferrari moments after moving aside for Piastri.
The clock has stopped with 8:04 remaining, thereby limiting drivers to just one run. Only Piastri and Hulkenberg have posted time.
"I crossed before it was red," insists Verstappen, who wants to know why his time was deleted.
Replays suggest that Verstappen did indeed lift off in time.
The session resumes at 22:07, however there is no rush to action as the drivers - possibly unwisely - rely on a single flying lap.
Sainz has been noted for crossing the track on foot, though, thankfully, not swearing as he did so.
The first driver (Piastri) heads out with just 3:45 remaining. He is followed by Norris, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Leclerc. Last out is Tsunoda.
Alonso has been noted for an unsafe release.
"You may need to do some work on your out lap in terms of track position," Verstappen is warned. The Dutchman subsequently passes Russell.
Piastri improves to 29.953 despite no purples. However, Norris responds with a 29.525.
Hulkenberg improves to 30.115 but remains third.
Leclerc goes fourth, behind Hulkenberg, as Hamilton goes second with a 29.841 and Russell third (29.867).
Verstappen goes second as Leclerc's time is deleted.
Alonso goes seventh, ahead of Tsunoda and Leclerc as Ferrari's qualifying goes from bad to worse.
Even though the Maranello outfit appeared to have turned things around since this morning, not for the first time it somehow managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
A well-deserved pole from Norris, though Piastri will be horrified at the 0.428s gap to his teammate and the fact that he starts from the third row.
Whatever the stewards decide re that deleted lap time, Verstappen will start alongside his main title rival, with the Mercedes pair right behind.
Great performances from Hulkenberg and Alonso, whose performances have helped shape an intriguing grid tomorrow.
"Qualifying has been a disaster for me all year long," says Hamilton. "I've been working and working and working to get myself back up there. And then the car came alive for me.
"There was a tiny bit more left in the car," he adds, "but I'm happy with that. We've changed everything on balance, moving up and down and the mechanics have been flawless so thank you to them for everything.
"I think with tyre management we can maybe keep up with these guys, we'll give it everything."
"I think the whole of qualifying went quite well," says Verstappen, "we managed to improve the car run after run.
"I'm happy to be on the front row when you look at where we were yesterday," he adds. "I'll take second, I'm happy with that.
"Tyres can give you a lot of lap time or lose you a lot of lap time, but for us today in qualifying it worked quite well for us. In Singapore a lot of things can happen but at least we have a shot at it starting like this."
"It was tough," says Norris, "especially through qualifying I was finding it a little difficult to progress much and find lap time. One lap at the end was good enough for pole so happy with that. We got the job done.
"It got the heart rate going, it was good fun," he grins when asked about only having the one lap at the end. "There was more in it but the car is feeling good, which makes you confident to go out and push."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Marina Bay here.